Phobia
by Riverhaze
Summary: NaruHina, NaruSaku, SasuSaku. Team 7 is all grown up, Naruto is the Hokage and married to Hinata. Sakura left Kanoha heartbroken, but an epidemic causes her to return to help cure it. Will she finally confess her feelings after all these years?
1. Life Paths

**main couples:** NaruHina, SasuSaku (maybe make it bigger, who knows), NaruSaku (mostly in flashbacks and stuff)

**summary(full): **Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are all grown up and the new Sannin. Naruto is the Hokage, and he and Hinata are married, five years prior Sakura left due

to her heartbreak and is no longer a ninja. An epidemic is sweeping Konoha and Sakura is the only one that can help, can Naruto convince Sakura to come back, and can Sakura get

over her own ego and heartbreak, and tell Naruto after all these years, how she really feels?

just a little OOC to for Sakura

do not own naruto!

enjoys

* * *

_**Phobia**_

**by Riverhaze**

**Chapter One**

**"Life Paths"**

* * *

Sakura remembered the day she heard wedding bells.

Certain memories are frozen in one's mind for years, that transport you back to that exact moment and how you felt if one's emotions were strong enough. And on that day, Sakura had felt very very alone.

Once in a foolish fleeting moment, Sakura had imagined those bells would have been ringing for her. All signs had pointed to her being the first to marry out of her age group.

But it wasn't meant to be her.

She looked out over Konoha from her bedroom window, a crowd was assembling toward the wedding, some curious, some genially happy for the couple.

The new young Hokage appointee and his beautiful fiance.

A large thick parchment envelope had been tossed carelessly on to her bed. A card rest on top with sprawling delicate calligraphy decorating the lacy white fabric.

_You are cordially invited to the union of Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto on the twenty-fifth of June._

They really had the nerve to invite her, she thought once more with a smirk as she began to fold a few articles of clothing. She did not plan on taking much with her, and was very content with leaving everything behind. She wanted to begin a new, to be born again. It truly was depressing that now there was nothing left for her in Konoha. No one even knew that she was leaving, just her parents who supported her decision, and Tsunade.

She slung her shabby travel bag over her shoulder, smiling. Heartbreaks weren't her thing. Not any more.

_There was a small thump as her head band landed on Tsunade's desk, the metal faced up and seemed to glow under the lights of the Hokage's office._

_Tsunade looked up at her apprentice, history had an uncanny tendency to repeat itself, she thought. But Sakura was leaving for different reasons than her own._

_"Are you sure?" Tsunade asked. Sakura gave a smile that she was trying to pass off as reassuring, but looked more like a grimace. _

_"Yes, all I need is for you to stamp that paper." She motioned. Tsunade pursed her lips as she pulled the paper close to her, it had taken some time to convince the Hokage that Sakura's leaving was best for everyone._

_"You can come back whenever you want." Tsunade said. Sakura frowned, both of the kunoichi's knew she would not. She was too stubborn. Tsunade stamped the paper with the seal of the Hokage in blood red wax. The blonde handed the pinkette the documents, who snatched them up greedily._

_"What will you do?" Tsunade asked as Sakura turned on her heel and marched to the door. She paused with her hand on the nob._

_"Whatever I want." She said and disappeared behind the Hokage's door, this time for he last time._

_Tsunade sat there for several moments in silence as a feeling of regret settled in her stomach. She stared at Sakura's head band for several moments before picking it up and placing it inside her desk. Someday someone would want it, she decided._

_Sighing deeply, she got to her feet and left for home to get ready for the brat's wedding._

The back street Sakura had taken to the village doors was all but deserted except for a stray rummaging through scraps. As she approached the exit and her freedom, she spotted a dark figure leaning against the doors dressed in a tux and at once Sakura recognized Sasuke. She had finally managed to put herself in a good mood for the first time in a long time, and she felt it deflating like a hot air balloon.

"Going somewhere?" He spoke up when she was twenty feet away from him.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere?" Sakura threw back and he smirked. She didn't want to deal with goodbyes, especially with Sasuke.

"I wouldn't think you were one for giving up." He said. Sakura froze, several feet away from him and she fixed him with a hard stare that he returned with indifference. His eyes traveled up to her head, noticing that her headband was gone. "You'll break his heart, you know. If you left." He added and Sakura wondered why now was the time that he decided to use his vocabulary.

"Good. An eye for an eye as they say." Sakura laughed shortly and marched toward the door, pushing it open with her shoulder. Sasuke did not say anything, or even follow her, as she stepped outside of the village and the door swung shut with a loud resounding bang.

Inhaling deeply, she put one foot in front of the other and left Konoha behind, and the unsaid words that would haunt her for years to come.

**Five Years Later**

Sakura slowly felt herself drift in to consciousness, and she noted sleepily how odd her dream had been. She felt the waves lazily rock her boat down the river, and she pushed the straw hat out of her face she had been using to shield her self from the sun. Yawning she did several stretches sitting up and fishermen on the banks of the river shot her odd looks.

With the moderate temperature and clear skies, Sakura really liked the Land of Waves this time of year.

"Young Sannin!" A voice bellowed from the bridge. Sakura rolled her eyes, she wanted to hunt down whatever idiot started the rumor that she was the next Sannin. The other two better get this crap too, she thought with a huff.

Troublesome, was what an old friend would say.

She turned to look up at the bridge she was approaching, three young boys all stood looking at her, no doubt genins that were ahead of themselves.

"We challenge you!" One shouted. Sakura looked around and behind her, as if she thought they were talking to someone else.

"I'm not the Sannin, just because I have pink hair like the Haruno does not make me her!" Sakura gripped and the three looked very confused. In all of her travels, Sakura had never once met another with pink hair so she was very easy to identify.

"Uh, our mistake!" Another responded. Sakura tried not to laugh as the shadow of the bridge was thrown over her and in a blur she jumped over it, landing on the other side in her boat easily, the three out cold.

Brushing her hands, she laid back down and used her hat as a pillow.

"Ya know, I once helped build a bridge." She said to herself. The boat clunked against a tree branch farther down the river, and Sakura got up jumping towards shore, splashing her feet in the river just a little. The village was only a few minutes away, and she ducked in to the shabby tin shack she had been renting for several days. Normally she would stay in hotels under a random alias, but sooner or later someone would figure out who she really was and challenge her to a fight. Really all she wanted was to be left alone.

By then, she'd be long gone from that town, and her presence there would be just another rumor.

She began to pack up her few belongings, spare outfits, a few handy kunai and weapons and what little money she had. She slung her pack over her back once more, haphazardly sewn together in random places from years of ware and tare and she made a mental note to pick up a new one soon. As she reached the village outskirts, a stray dog ran up to her that had been following her around for some time and she patted it's head. It was a neat dog, she'd miss him, he reminded her of a dog she once knew.

Walking through the rural country side, she had rare time for deep thinking. She had been all over, seeing the sights, meeting odd characters, and getting into the occasional mishap. Even though she was no longer a ninja, she still kept her skills at top notch. The world was a pretty dangerous place, especially for a lone traveling female. Konoha entered her thoughts for once, she had not returned in five years. At first that was all she could think about, but as time passed her emotional investment weaned and the one day she did not even think about Konoha.

Sakura wondered if Ino had finally bagged Shikamaru, or had Temari beat her to it? Had Sasuke finally silenced the gay rumors and hitched himself to some girl to rebuild his clan? Had Tenten finally asked Neji out? Did Kakashi enjoy the latest issue of Icha Icha? And most of all, had Hinata and Naruto had pale eyed blond haired brats yet?

She thought about returning to Konoha, but the desire was never strong enough and her stubbornness was to great. Her heart felt very heavy as her feet pounded against the dirt road, taking her wherever her mind could wander.

_Line Break_

The stack of paperwork exploded from his hands almost by itself, and Naruto racked his hands through his hair, he really needed an assistant.

"Gaa! Where are those papers?" He muttered to himself as he began to pull drawers open to his desk. Of course when he needed the tax reports, they were no where to be found. He wrenched open the top right drawer and threw out papers randomly. His hand enclosed around something hard and he yanked it out in a flurry of old balled up papers.

He was unsure of what he was looking at at first, but as he turned the red ribbon over in his hands, the metal of the headband caught the light. Curiously, he turned it back over to read the lettering stitched on the back.

'Property of Sakura Haruno.'

Naruto felt a stinging sensation in his heart as he turned it back over and wiped away the dust, his stunned reflection staring back in the metal. Slowly he rotated in his chair to face the windows overlooking Konoha.

Not a day went by when he didn't think of her. She had been his best friend, his team mate, his first love.

He held her headband close to him dearly, closing his eyes.

Sakura had been wearing a white sun dress, her hair free and tickled occasionally by the wind. His hand entwined with hers, their lips meeting perfectly and the summer sun warm on their skin as her laughter, pure and happy, rang through the air. It was one of his fondest memories. Of course, that had been before...well he did not like to think about it.

He remembered standing at the altar and watching the guests stream in with the biggest grin on his face. Tsunade arrived with a grim expression as she told him that Sakura was still injured from her last mission and could not make it. Naruto believed the outright lie at the time, and told Tsunade to pass on his well wishes to her. He had hoped that they could make peace, but he decided that would be for another day. Weeks passed and when returned from his honeymoon, Tsunade told him the truth. There was nothing he could do about it either, Tsunade had discharged Sakura of her ninja rank, making her just another civilian.

Sakura had become a ghost, only alive in the belief that she still existed in words and memories. She contacted no one, not even her parents or Tsunade or Ino.

His heart feeling heavy, he placed the headband gingerly back inside the drawer, but in a place that he could see from now on.

He really had to get organized.

With that thought, there was a sharp rap at the door.

"Uh, hold on!" Naruto called and started to shove the papers inside his desk before slammed the drawer shut, overflowing with papers. "Come in!"

Ino walked in, and Naruto sighed, he did not like dealing with Kohona's number three medic. Number one was retired, and number two was of course no longer in Konoha.

"Naruto, we need that new appointee for the head of the hospital!" Ino harped and Naruto. Plus, she didn't respect him as the Hokage.

"Uh, what about Tsunade?" Naruto asked. He had been putting off this decision, it just did not seem important to him until news of an odd disease sweeping through the Fire Country that was fast approaching epidemic levels reached Konoha.

"Are you serious? She'll laugh in my face. You know she's retired." Ino frowned. Tsunade proudly spent her hours drinking and gambling these days.

"You...?" Naruto said slowly as he dug in to his ear.

"Me? But, I can't possibly, I'm not as skilled-" Ino said, flustered. There was only one other option, on both of their minds.

"You know she wont agree." Naruto said and Ino frowned.

"She will if she knows she's the only one that can stop it, and people are dying from it everyday. People that don't have to die." Ino said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'll see what I can do." Naruto said with a sigh.

"Good. It's about time, too." Ino said before making her departure. He leaned his head back with an irritated huff and closed his eyes.

His desk drawer burst open then and the papers spewed out. He hit his head on the desk with a groan.

He _really_ had to get organized.

* * *

**AN 2/27: **I posted this story over two years ago, and I always wanted to go back and not necessarily rewrite it, more like give it a face lift. I'm a much more skilled writer now, and this is one of my more better received works, so I decided to finally start with it. Originally I wanted to come back to this after finishing Full Dark, but any of my readers that have been around long enough now how things tend to work.


	2. Old Friends

do not own nayruto

* * *

**Phobia**

**By Riverhaze**

**Chapter Two**

**Old Friends**

* * *

Hinata Hyuuga-Uzumaki's eyes fluttered opened and she squinted through the morning sun that was streaming in through the drawn curtains. Her ears were ringing slightly, and she rolled over to see the space next to her empty. It was unusual for Naruto to be an early riser, she noted with a small smile. He usually did not tell her about his work for the day until later, so she never knew what he was up to. Sitting up and stretching, she got to her feet and slipped a soft gold wedding band automatically on to her ring finger.

She made herself ready for the day, no longer being a ninja she had all of her time to herself as a homemaker. She wanted nothing more than to start having children, her dreams were filled with visions of a baby bundle in her arms. Naruto seemed reluctant to start having a family so early, he was still a young Hokage and was just learning the ropes of running the village.

Walking down to the kitchen to fix herself breakfast, she paused in the doorway with a start as she spotted Naruto at the table practically inhaling a bowl of noodles. She had harped on him time and time again, that a diet consisting soley of noodles was not healthy, and had tried to persuade him in to other meals but he had not budged.

"Oh! I thought you had left already." Hinata said as she crossed the room to the fridge.

"Mm-hrm." He mumbled between slurps and smacked his lips with a big grin and she gave him a disapproving stare.

"My mother asked if we would like to go to dinner with her and my father this Friday." Hinata said as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"What for?" Naruto frowned at his spoon as he observed his reflection.

"To visit."

"They always want us to visit." Naruto muttered to himself before sighing and getting to his feet. "I have to go, the Anbu are delivering and urgent report this morning." He said and briefly pecked Hinata on the cheek as he gathered his robe and head to the door. A slight blush played across Hinata's cheek and she bid him goodbye pleasantly.

A small file was waiting for Naruto on his desk when he arrived, and the two Anbu that had gathered it were waiting for his next command. Warily, he pulled it open and read the report inside on the few sightings of the former ninja, Sakura Haruno. Naruto could just make out the crude outline of her path, she was traveling south going west, toward the wind country.

"She does not stay in the same place for very long, usually just two or three days." The Boar Anbu finished his oral report, and Naruto leaned back in his seat, rubbing his chin. He wondered if Sakura genuinely liked her lonely life, tumbling on from place to place with no where to call her home all because of him. All because of him, he thought with a sorrowful sigh. He wondered, would a visit from an old friend bring her out of her ways? What if the cause tried to be the solution?

Abruptly, Naruto got to his feet and strode toward the door.

"Sir, where are you going?" The Cat Anbu asked, startled.

"Out, Shizune is in charge until I get back." He said and disappeared behind the office door.

At the doors to the Hokage Tower, Konohamaru paced back and forth with a curt irritated ground his teeth and swore inwardly, Naruto better not have forgotten. He had been 'loitering' in the lobby when the secretary kicked him out, so now he was out here and his mood deteriorating by the second. The door was flung open as soon as he glanced at it, and with a jump he recognized his sensei.

"HEY! Old Man, you said you'd help me with training!" Konohamaru pointed at Naruto, who stopped and looked at him curiously as if he had never seen his apprentice before.

"Not now, I'm busy." He said and kept moving.

"But you promised!" Konohamaru accused. Naruto froze mid step and suddenly flashed back, years ago, a much shorter and immature Naruto tailing after a white haired toad sage, hounding him for training lessons, and having to resort to extremes to get him to pay attention. With a wave of nostalgia, Naruto turned around.

"Fine, I'll need your help on a mission, it'll give you good experience in the field." Naruto said.

"A mission? ALRIGHT!" Konohamaru said eagerly and punched the air. "What are we going to be doing? Some super secret Hokage business?" Konohamaru rubbed his hands together.

"We're going to try and find someone." Naruto said, and was very creeped out by how familiar the situation was.

"A tracking mission? Alright, who?" Konohamaru asked and fell in step with Naruto.

"My old friend, Sakura Haruno." Naruto breathed.

_Line Break_

Sakura glanced down at her hand. Not good. Not good at all, but they couldn't know. Of course, she thought, she'd inherit her sensei's bad luck with gambling but obvious love of the game. She glanced back up at her opponents, having to squint through the thick haze of the poker room. Each had trained their features in to a perfect mask, all were waiting for her move.

"Alright boys, I'm goin' all in." Sakura said with a big grin and shoved the rest of her chips in the middle. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife, they all exchanged glances, fooled that she might have a good hand. Not even pausing to wipe the sweat from her brow, Sakura watched as they all placed their bets and one by one laid their cards down. Never faltering she placed down her hand.

A chorus of laughs was met with her hand, and one man on her right even fell out of his seat.

"You loose, pinky." The winner of the game, a large older man growled directly across from her.

"That I do sir, but do you really need all that? I mean, your already rich." Sakura winked devilishly and his eyes bulged.

"If you can't pay me, then we'll just need to find a different method." He smiled under his thick mustache. Sakura understood him, and her skin crawled.

"Sorry sir, but I'm saving myself for the right guy, ya know?" Sakura said and in one fluid motion she kicked her chair back and swept all of the chips in to her bag. The men all stumbled away from the table, roaring their protests and the door was thrown open as several vagabonds the casino used as security streamed in.

"Thief! GET HER!" The winner yelled as she jumped clear over the table. She easily ducked out of the way of the clumsy security guards and dashed down to the lobby. There were more shouts as the men tailed after her, and guests watched the chase curiously as she made it out in to the street.

"Catch me if you can!" She yelled behind her back with a laugh and easily scaled the nearest building. To her surprise, a few actually kept pace with her over the rooftops, so they must have been employed rogue nins. Nothing Sakura couldn't easily handle, of course. She flung several of the chips over her shoulders like shuriken, and with the force and speed she had tossed them at, they knocked out a few cold.

She landed with a large thud on her feet to the street below outside of the hotel she had checked herself in to. When she arrived in the tourist friendly town, she had felt like being a high roller for once and purchased one of the loveliest suites on credit. Jingling the heavy bag of chips in her hand, she strolled in to the lobby to pay her debt, and she'd be gone within the hour to the next town.

"That bitch took all my money and took off over the buildings, you know how much she took!? That's money she stole you know!" A rather large man was cursing at Naruto. He winced and rubbed the back of his head and Konohamaru muttered something next to him that sounded like 'idiot'.

"Um, I'm sorry for her behavior. I'll personally reimburse you for your loss. Did your men manage to catch up to her?" Naruto asked, really wanting to end his conversation with the unpleasant man.

"No, my men tracked her down to the Newcastle Hotel, but she had checked out by the time they got there! Can you believe that!?" The man said, tugging at his tousled hair. Apologizing again for Sakura's behavior, Naruto dragged Konohamaru away from some questionable women and they stopped just outside the village. If Sakura had recently been there, only a day ago, then her chakra signature would still be lingering around. Hopefully he could pick it up and track her down, a handy trick he had learned from Hinata.

"Hey! Why is she so important anyway? She sounds like what my dad would call a loose-woman!" Konohamaru grumbled after Naruto explained what he was doing.

"She's a dear friend, and could help with the epidemic." Naruto said with his eyes closed. With a jolt, he picked up something very familiar. A faint path opened up before his eyes, and he could sense the source, only a few miles away to the north.

"Besides Konohamaru, you've meet her before. She was on my old team." Naruto threw over his shoulder, and Konohamaru quieted down for once, lost in thought.

"The pink-haired girl!" He blurted out and Naruto nodded. "She was pretty, and didn't you date her? Why didn't you marry her, she's much more beautiful than-"

"Life happened." Naruto cut in a hard voice, trying not to remember the incident that led to Naruto shutting her out. Konohamaru looked at Naruto curiously, he could act so odd sometimes.

Trailing after Sakura's chakra for a day or so, they arrived at a tiny village on the outskirts of Konoha. Masking his own chakra, and having Konohamaru doing the same, they entered the village with tangled nerves. Mostly on Naruto's side, he wondered what Sakura's reaction would be when she would see him. Would she be happy to see an old face? Or would she be angry that he had violated her self banishment?

They asked around the village for the better part of the morning, if anyone had seen a pink haired traveler. To his surprise everyone said no, until he had approached a vendor in the market and the aged man pointed to something behind Naruto. Turning around expecting to see nothing, he saw her.

Long pink hair almost to the middle of her waist, and donned in a shabby traveling cloak. Her back was to him, and she was talking to the woman at the fruit stand. Naruto's heart seemed to have stop beating, it couldn't be her, could it?

"HEY, isn't that-!" Konohamaru began to bellow at the top of his lungs, and Naruto clamped a hand firmly over his mouth. Turning at the sound, Sakura slowly glanced over her shoulder while holding on to a bag of apples. Everything in the world seemed to stop working, time froze for Naruto and Sakura could not remember how to breath as she locked eyes with a pair of bright blue ones.

There was a loud thud as the bag slipped from her arms and apples came spilling out, and slowly, her face started to twist in to a familiar scowl. Naruto winced, anticipating the old rage he had remembered receiving as a twelve year old.

"Mhshm!" Konohamru licked Naruto's palm, and in disgust he pulled his hand away. "PINKIE!" Konohamaru bellowed and everyone in the market stopped to turn their eyes on Sakura. She felt as if the whole world was glaring at her.

"Go away!" She yelled and scooped up an apple, before throwing it at Naruto. It landed short and bounced pitifully to his feet. "Go away! Go away!" She repeated in haunted screams. Naruto walked toward her, easily avoiding the apples until he was only a few feet in front of her and her breathing was ragged.

"I'm real." He whispered.

* * *

**revised 3/6/13**


	3. Reunion

Dont own NARUTOOO

* * *

**Phobia**

**by Riverhaze**

**Chapter Three**

**Reunion**

* * *

_Sakura sat alone in her room, leaning against the closet door. It was always the aftermath from sobbing when she felt the most ashamed, when she looked back on the split second everything cracked and all she could do was scream and cry. Thankfully her parents were both out of the house, she did not want them, or anyone, to see her at her weakest. She hadn't cried this hard since she had been thirteen, and Sasuke had left. Now another love had left, and here she was sitting on her floor again._

_The clock on her desk would not stop with its ticking noise, each time it got louder and louder until she had to press her hands to her ears to shut it out._

_'I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN__!'_

___Her eyes flashed open, and instead of seeing Naruto standing over her with fire in his eyes, she was indeed still alone. How many beautiful moments were now tragic? How many more painful memories had been made in Konoha? She wished she could disappear in to thin air, go somewhere were no one knew her name. What an interesting idea, she thought.  
_

___Her eyes leveled with the mirror across from her, brilliant green eyes rimmed with red stared back as an idea blossomed in her head._

___Six months later, Sakura left._

Sakura liked to stick to her decisions. She always considered a indecisive mind a weak mind, during the War she had to act quickly and efficiently, and in life she liked to think she had made the right choices. She had stuck to being a ninja when everyone had told her she was a failure, she trained tedious hours to grow strong so she could bring Sasuke back, and did her best to convince Naruto she loved him and not Sasuke.

So, Sakura knew she would never abandon her exile, no matter how lonely she ever got. She was just going to travel the world over and over until she knew every rock and pebble and spec of dirt. She had learned to be content with just dying alone somewhere in a cave to decompose straight to the earth. So what if her life was miserable? It would have been a thousand times more miserable if she had stayed in Konoha. How could you just sit by and watch the love of your life, love some one else? Someone you knew who would not make them happy not matter what?

Story of my life, Sakura grumbled to herself. So now, said love of life was standing right before her, and what the hell did he even want? Why? How? All she knew was that she was incredibly angry, but also incredibly happy. Was that even possible?

Embarrassed that he still had such a hold over her, she raised her hand out to him, then quickly balled her fist and threw a punch. Naruto surprisingly took the punch, his head whipped back an an angry red welt throbbed out from his cheek.

"Hey! Do you know who he is?" Konohamaru yelled and ran at Sakura. She easily weaved out of his reach and grabbed him by his hands, pinning him down with her foot.

"Who do you think you are?" Sakura finally found her voice. The villagers by now had carried on with their lives, uninterested in ninja squabble.

"Alright, I deserved that." Naruto coughed and gave her a sheepish grin. Sakura felt her stomach flip. "But Sakura-chan, I'm here to ask for your help. Konoha needs you." Naruto said softly. Sakura pointed down at Konohamaru with her eyebrows raised. "Not him, the village." He coughed again.

"What's wrong big Hokage?" Sakura snarled at him. She had to dig in to the fact that all of his dreams had come true, while all she witnessed were nightmares.

"Can we talk somewhere in private?" Naruto asked.

"No."

"Fine. We need a new Head of the Hospital, the old one resigned, and a new disease is spreading that no one knows what to do about." Naruto said, trying to keep his voice low so no one could over hear them. Sakura's eye brows shot up at this piece of information, in all of her travels she had yet to hear about some new plague.

"Gee, I have some problems with medicine, I know! Let's go find Sakura-_chan_, after all, she's only good for helping me with what I want." Sakura spat and crossed her arms.

"Sakura-chan, it's not like that. Ino kind of made me-"

"Oh, so now you didn't even want to see me?"

"What!"

"Will you two grow up? Aren't adults supposed to be mature!?" Konohamaru snapped at them. There was an awkward silence that followed, and Sakura had to let it sink in that a teenager had better moral codes than her.

"Say please." Sakura sniffed and looked away. Naruto blinked several times and then cleared his throat.

"Sakura-chan, I, The Sixth Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, beg for your aid." He pleaded. The corner of Sakura's mouth twitched, a little over the top but it would do.

"Okay, but, I will not be reinstated as a ninja, once this disease is taken care of, I'm going to leave again. Got it?" Sakura laid down her terms. Naruto nodded silently, it was not entirely what he wanted, but some was better than none. He knew he could count on Sakura's sense of self righteousness the draw her our of seclusion.

"Can you get off of me now?" Konohamaru mumbled into the dirt.

_Line Break_

Hinata often spent time looking at her self in the mirror. Her image mattered to her, as a respectable Hyuuga and the other half of the Hokage, she had to make sure she was giving off a dignified appearance. Her hair was almost to her waist, and she spent an hour brushing it every morning and every night. Her face had thinned considerably with womanhood, and her figure had evened out thankfully.

She turned to the side, imagining what a baby bump would look like.

Hinata thought about how funny it was that things worked out. She wished she could go back to sixteen, knowing what she knew now. She'd tell herself not to worry, that her chance would soon come, that Naruto and Sakura's relationship was doomed from the start. Doomed because of Naruto's own insecurities and Sakura's past love for Sasuke. Hinata did feel sorry for the pain both had went through during the breakup, and the pain she felt she had caused Sakura. But Sakura had decided to leave, Hinata had not made her. So, Hinata was not the least bit sorry for the pity everyone felt for the Haruno girl.

Then something agonizing came to mind, something Hinata had to convince herself meant nothing.

Naruto had been laying asleep next to her, and in the morning sunlight he was like a vision from a dream. She watched his sleeping figure, and knew this was it. This was bliss. She leaned closer to him, to catch the words he was breathing in his sleep. One delicate word slipped from his lips, and at its utterance, she felt her blood prickle.

Why? Why did he love her? Hinata never understood, Sakura was a good person, but extremely selfish by nature. It had been Hinata who had loved Naruto unconditionally since childhood, not Sakura!

Fading this memory from sight, Hinata picked up the white stick she had laid on the corner table and stared at the small pink plus. She activated her byakugan and looked at her navel.

Forming just above her hips was a small cluster of chakra mixed with Naruto's.

Hinata Hyuuga-Uzumaki was pregnant.

* * *

**revised 3/11/13**


	4. The Fallen Ninja

do not own nahrutoe

* * *

**Phobia**

**by Riverhaze**

**Chapter Four**

**"The Fallen Ninja"**

* * *

The forest path was silent as the odd group made its way to Konoha. Sakura had not uttered a word except for an occasional grunt that Sasuke would have been proud of, and her face was set in to a hard glare. Plus, Konohamaru kept looking back at her with a slack jawed expression that was funny at first, but was starting to get annoying. Naruto, meanwhile, was trying to fight up the courage to start a conversation with Sakura, in his head every attempt ended with a large bruise on his head.

Sakura wondered how badly Naruto must have handled things in Konoha if he didn't have any other decent medics to choose from but her or Ino. When she had left, the hospital had been the best out of all the nations, thanks to some of her help of course. Naruto abruptly cleared his throat with a noise that sounded like a wood grinder and the other two looked at him expectantly.

"So, um, Sakura-chan, what have you been up to?" He asked timidly.

"Traveling."

"Oh, that's cool. Where to?" He continued in a vain attempt to get her to open up.

"All over." Sakura shrugged.

"Have you been to the land of tea?" Konohamaru pipped up and Sakura looked at him with a blinking expression, stunned that he had addressed her directly.

"Well, yeah. But by accident, the caravan I snuck on was supposed to go north but it didn't." Sakura said, and like that, she launched in to her story of her travels in the Land of Tea. She had been there once before as a teenager, but without any responsibilities, she had been free to roam. She had made her travels sound interesting, but in reality a vast majority of them had been boring, with many hours to herself and silence.

Several stories later, the gates to Konoha loomed in to view, and Sakura found her self retracing steps she had left behind five years ago. Her stomach felt queasy, and she wondered if she could return, if any one would want her back. Naruto waved at the men in the station, and they waved back before the heavy doors were pushed open.

Sakura slowly looked around as she crossed the line between village and woods, she could feel the nostalgia rising inside and wished it would go away. For some reason, she felt as if she did not belong here, like she was just another traveling foreign ninja here on a mission.

"Would you mind going straight to the Tower so we can discuss your duties?" Naruto turned to face her, suddenly all business.

"That's fine. I can get straight to work." She said, _and then closer to leaving, _she added in her head. It was no longer the early morning hours and the afternoon rush had gripped most of the village. Thankfully, Naruto used back alley ways and narrow short cuts to cut across Konoha, only a few saw the three ninja's and even they doubted if what they saw was real. A girl they had seen a long time ago with pink hair and green eyes.

"They just got around to adding me to the mountain, I think they made my nose to big though." Naruto was babbling to Sakura as they made the journey up the stairwell to his office. Konohamaru was still tagging after them after he made a show in the lobby about Naruto training him later.

"What are they gonna do when there isn't enough mountain left for the Hokage's head?" Konohamaru scratched the back of his head.

"Huh. I'm not sure, why?" Naruto paused.

"Because I wanna make sure I still get a monument when I'm Hokage!" Konohamaru said hotly with fire burning behind his eyes.

"We'll discuss this later?" Naruto said sheepishly after taking one glance at Sakura's expression. Naruto paused outside of his office and held the door open for Sakura, she thought for a second if she should refuse his politeness, but maybe that was to petty.

"SAKURA-CHAN! THE BLOOM OF YOUTH IS STILL AS STRONG IN YOU AS EVER!" A familiar voice bellowed and a head full of dark black hair and bushy brows assaulted her in a hug.

Sakura fell back a little on her feet and patted the back of Rock Lee a little awkwardly and managed to pry him off of her as large tears streamed down his face. She looked around in rising confusion and anger as she took in all of her old friends, the legendary Konoha Twelve had been assembled inside Naruto's office. She felt her cheeks grow hot, the last thing she had wanted was a big cheesy reunion! She rounded on Naruto with a demanding expression.

"This wasn't my idea! Honestly." He chuckled nervously.

"It was my idea, Sakura. Shizune told me where Naruto went and I couldn't resist." Ino stepped forward with a large grin and Sakura was taken back by how much of a woman Ino looked like now. Glancing around once more, she was glad to see that Ino had left out Hinata. She wanted that reunion to be as small as possible, or not at all preferably.

"Well, er, hi everyone. Long time no see." Sakura said with a tight lipped smile.

"Sakura! I can't believe you missed it! I finally got around to telling Neji that I liked him, and he felt the same! Can you believe that?" Tenten hopped forward eagerly, Sakura was a little taken back because she had never really been more than social friends with the other kunoichi, and Sakura could actually believe that because Neji was just like Sasuke, they both hid and denied their feelings.

"Oh, congrats I guess?" Sakura said and glanced over to Neji who looked as if he wished Tenten had not divulged that as a greeting.

"Haruno." He nodded respectfully at the pinkette and she returned it briefly. Sakura had always been on good terms with Neji, he had always respected her growth from becoming the weakest link to a fully realized kunoichi, and she his dedication to the village above his clan.

"Alright you guys, hate to cut the reunion short, but I have to go over Sakura's duties as the Head of the Hospital." Naruto clapped his hands together and made his way around his desk.

"I can show her! I can also catch her up to speed on the epidemic." Ino said next to her. Naruto frowned, then suddenly pulled a drawer open with a large glowing grin.

"Here, Sakura-chan, catch." He said and tossed something red at her. Sakura reached out and caught her headband with a dumbfound expression, holding it in her hands as if it were a dying pet. For a split second she almost shouted at him that she wasn't a ninja anymore, but understood he was just giving her the relic for her own personal keeping.

"Thanks, I guess. Want to get going, Ino?" Sakura said and turned quickly for the door. She had to get out of the room and away from Naruto and all of those old faces she had last seen in memories. The two medics disappeared behind the door, and slowly the Konoha Twelve trickled out until only Kakashi and Sasuke were left. Naurto often met with them in his office, he trusted them the most for advice.

"Well, I think you just made a situation a whole lot worse." Kakashi said lazily.

"Hm?" Naruto inquired as he pulled out the stack of paperwork he'd need to file for Sakura's new appointment.

"You didn't see the look on her face? I don't think she has fully forgiven you, on her own Sakura would have eventually returned when she came to terms with what happened, but you had to rush it." Kakashi explained.

"Huh? Sakura wouldn't still be hung up on stuff that happened years ago, I'm sure she's forgotten, you know how stubborn she can be. She just wanted to prove a point is all." Naruto shrugged. "Heck, I don't really remember what happened exactly." Naruto laughed nervously to reassure himself. In response, all Kakashi did was sigh very heavily while thinking that he was to old for this already.

The intercom on his desk abruptly buzzed, and the voice of the secretary at the front desk came through.

"Sir, you have a message from your wife while you were out." She said.

"Huh? Oh, delete it, I'll talk to her later." Naruto shrugged it off.

"You'll want to hear this now." She continued.

"Well, what is it?" Naruto asked, now he was annoyed.

"She is pregnant." The woman blurted out. The room was still until a loud thud vibrated the floor and Naruto was on the ground, out cold from feinting and Konohamaru started to slowly laugh.

"Oh great, there are going to be more of him." Kakashi said and Sasuke slowly shook his head.

_Line Break_

"Alright, what are we dealing with?" Sakura asked as they entered the elevator to take them up to her new office. She wanted to scope out her new digs then take a look at the sick ward that housed those stricken with the new disease.

"The Wind, Rain, and Stone have all reported their own outbreaks, with many cases being severe. We've lost a few, but we have figured out how to keep most of the patients stable longer but no complete cure." Ino began.

"Symptoms?" Sakura asked as they stepped out and walked down the hall to her office.

"Fever, coughing, sweating, starts out like a common cold. Then after a day or two those afflicted will develop boils and black bruises rapidly appear afterward." Ino continued.

"Sounds like the Plague to me." Sakura said, and was about to get very mouthy if that's what she got dragged back to Konoha for.

"That's what we thought too, at first. But every vaccine we have tried does not work. Even standard medical jutsu's are useless against it. The advanced stage is when the brain swells and the lungs flood with fluid. We can't figure out what triggers this, though." Ino finished as they paused outside of the door. Sakura wondered how anyone got anything done around here, they were completely hopeless with out a leader.

"Can you get me the files on what little research has been done on it already?" Sakura asked as she fumbled with the lock to the door and pushed it open. Whoever had occupied the space before left it bare and clean, nothing hung on the walls and the desk was spotless. Sakura scanned the titles of reference on the shelves as Ino informed her about her duties as the new Head of the Hospital.

Sakura paused in front of the double windows that overlooked the street below and had a direct view of the Hokage Tower. She took in Konoha with its busy streets and organized buildings, nothing had changed since she had left.

"Oh, Sakura?" Ino asked and she turned to look at her old friend. "I'm glad you're back." Ino smiled and Sakura returned it briefly.

"Yeah. Let's take a look at the sick." She said, to quickly get off sappy reunion speeches.

Several minutes later Sakura stood in the plague ward opposite Ino taking in what was going on. Nurses rushed from bedside to bedside to check on patients, medical ninjas were grouped around beds trying to keep the more severe cases stable. Overall, chaos seemed to rule the ward. Sakura frowned as she strolled down the length of the ward, glimpsing at their charts, then pausing in the center.

"Ino, have you noticed that every patient is a ninja to some degree?" She spoke up. Ino frowned and furrowed her brow.

"I never noticed that. What do you think that means?" The blonde asked. Sakura could feel the gears spinning in her head, she felt as if this one connection would be the start of her research.

"Maybe we aren't dealing with a standard disease. C'mon, I need some fresh air." Sakura said and turned sharply on her heel. Once they made it to the roof of the hospital where the smell of antiseptic and sickness was replaced with a gentle cold wind, Sakura inhaled deeply. She couldn't believe it, just this morning she was still stuck in her exile and now the day was winding to a close and here she was, back in Konoha tasked with saving lives and finding the cure to an impossible disease. Damn that Naruto, she grumbled.

"So, catch me up to speed." Sakura said and leaned on to the ledge of the roof.

"Well, as you already know Tenten and Neji started dating. Shikamaru is going to become an academy teacher." Ino started.

"God help those poor kids, all they'll learn is the art of cloud gazing." Sakura said and Ino burst out into laughter. Sakura joined in, her first genuine laughter in a long time. It sounded...old to her.

"AH!" Ino let out a scream and Sakura jumped back before seeing Sasuke standing over the two on the ledge. Ino let out a few colorful curse words as she struggled to get back to her feet and Sakura blinked up at her old friend.

"Sasuke-chan, dont scare Ino-kun." Sakura smirked as Sasuke frowned before he jumped down.

"There's something you need to know." He said.

"Hello to you too." Sakura grumbled.

"I'm going to head back to the ward, see if they need any extra hands." Ino said and Sakura nodded her agreement, saying she'd join the blonde as soon as she could.

"Hinata, she's pregnant." Sasuke said as soon as Ino was gone. Sakura felt her smile drop and she froze, looking out over the roof back at Konoha she shrugged.

"Okay." She said quietly. Sasuke tensed up then, Sakura may look calm but on the inside she was probably a war zone, which was accurate. But what could she do? The two where married, they had every single right to start a family. Sakura had no business getting upset. That's it, she thought and felt five years wasted all of a sudden. All along, she had had no reason to be upset. Naruto choose his own life, and she would choose hers. She still loved Naruto, she always would as a brother and comrade and she would always be cool to Hinata. But like they said, the best revenge was none at all.

"Guess there's a baby shower to plan, huh?" She tried to sound light and joking, and added a shaky laugh.

"The very thought of that dobe raising a child makes me fear for its safety." Sasuke smirked and they shared a laugh.

"So, what's been going on with you, Sasuke?" She asked lightly.

"There hasn't been much." He grunted.

"Yeah. Same here." Sakura added in a small voice.

_Line Break _

"You're...you're, PREGNANT!" Naruto stood in the doorway to his kitchen, Hinata was seated sipping on a glass of tea when her husband burst inside.

"Aren't you happy?" Hinata asked, keeping her cool. She had expected him to freak out naturally, but not so much.

"Pregnant, kid, father, gah!" Naruto threw his hands in the air

"If I knew this is how you would react, I wouldn't have gotten pregnant!" Hinata snapped, deeply offended. Naruto's eyes softened at these words.

"I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I just didn't expect it." He sighed and leaned against the wall. Hinata softened up too, she should have told him of her plot, but she knew he would not have agreed.

"Be happy, we're going to have a child! You'll be a great father." Hinata smiled and he smiled back.

"Yeah, just what Konoha needs, a mini-Naruto." He laughed. Hinata thought about this for a second and hoped their child would have some Hyuuga dignity.

"You know what else right?" Hinata asked timidly.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"We have to tell my father." Hinata said as she turned to poor the remains of her drink down the drain, and Naruto froze. Its not that he did not like Hinata's father, okay maybe a little, but Hiashi didn't like Naruto because he wasn't a Hyuuga, and it had been almost impossible for him to convince Hiashi to let Hinata live outside the Hyuuga district.

"When?" He groaned, hitting his head on the wall in defeat.

* * *

**revised 3/24/13**


	5. Epiphany

dont own narudo

* * *

**Phobia**

**by Riverhaze**

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Sakura felt herself fall down on her bed and her eyes shut the moment she hit the sheets. She had managed to survive her first week back in Konoha, and she could say her sleep had not. Now she knew why Tsunade was always inebriated.

"They call it the _Haruno Fever_." She grumbled under her breath as she rolled over to sit back up. Sakura gazed around her apartment room, not her idea but Ino's. She had been content with sleeping on the couch in her office, but when the other medic saw her there in the morning she made Sakura go out and find some where decent to live. The thought of living with her parents well pass the age of twenty made her cringe and she dipped in to some of her gambling 'earnings'.

'Speaking of which, I should probably repay those.' She thought with a sigh. Getting to her feet required a lot of will power and concentration, but she made her way back to her kitchen where she had left the medical journals and files she brought home with her to look over. She was in the process of tracking down patient zero, and was close to hunting him down within the Anbu ranks. Again, Ino came up with a great idea and made Sakura leave her office on a Friday night to 'catch up with Konoha', whatever the hell that meant.

She fixed herself a cup of coffee to help her stay awake for the process, and a sandwich as the last thing she had eaten was a fruit bar for lunch.

Sakura took her seat twenty minutes later and leafed through her notebook to where she had left off, the list of the dead Anbu she had traced was scrawled across most of the page, their death dates recorded neatly. There was nine in all and they had all passed within two weeks of each other, and several had all been on the same team as each other. For some reason, Sakura could not escape her creeping concern that everyone infected were shinobi. Ino disregarded it as chance, that the disease was confined to a small number because only they had been exposed to it. But exactly, what exposed them to it?

She grabbed the patient records through the stack and began to paw through it. In the absence of a leader, no one had thought to organize any of the data, so Sakura was left with a big mess to look through. Not even any of the computers had been updated, and Sakura made a note to fire some one when she could get around to it.

After some serious squinting, Sakura was able to pull out the last few death certificates. She began to mark down the names, adding three more to her list and the final name, she circled. He had been a Hyuuga, but Sakura was sure that he wasn't even Neji's cousin. It was noted on the file that he had returned from a mission in the Wind Country to catch a runaway Fire Country criminal when he developed a cough. Four days later he was dead, and now five months later Sakura was back in Konoha. Sakura wondered how this had not spiraled into an epidemic with such little response, they had been lucky.

Now that she knew where the disease originated, the Wind Country, she could send in a few Anbu and Medics to track down Patient Zero's path and identify the source. Suna would probably send in their own team to help as well, since they were experiencing their own ordeal with the Haruno Fever. A scientific name better come along quick, she thought with a grumble.

Leaning back in her seat, she rubbed her eyes until they watered and blinked at the clock. Three hours had passed and she felt exhaustion weighing on her back. She'd get reacquainted with Konoha another day, Sakura thought as she shuffled back to her room and her bed.

That night she had dreams of the Wind Country.

She flew past the great desert that surrounded Suna, across the plains to the west and could feel the mighty wind strip past her face. She traveled up and up many steps, until she stood on the plateau of a dense bamboo forest. She already knew the path, she had been there before in her travels. Through the darkness she came upon a small village, and was drawn to a clay hut on the outskirts of town.

An old woman beckoned her inside and offered Sakura tea. She could not exactly remember what they had been talking about, it could have been small talk or a philosophical discussion. But at some point the old woman pricked Sakura's arms with special chakra tags, and explained to her the enigma of chakra.

"_The basic ingredient to every shinobi's power. The system has been noted to develop as early as four years old, jutsu's may attack it and destroy it. But to be destroyed by ones own chakra? What a painful end." _

Something crashed to the ground and Sakura was jolted awake. From years on the field, Sakura had developed the ability to wake up at the slightest noise, a habit she only honed while traveling by herself, some nights spent asleep under the stars.

She threw her blanket away from her and got to her feet before swiftly crossing to the door, pulling out a hidden kunai just in case. Her weapon ready, she crept forward in to the hallway and paused outside of the kitchen doorway as she heard a shuffling noise. Counting to three, Sakura threw the door open with her shoulder and let the kunai release from her hands.

Sasuke merely had to step back and the kunai landed in between the tile behind him and he gave her an inquisitive look.

"Your aim has gotten horrible." He said and Sakura had to shake her head several times to make sure she wasn't still stuck in a dream.

"Why are you in my kitchen during the middle of the night?" She asked.

"It's actually the early morning. And because I was paid to." He said and went back to reorganizing her utensil drawer.

"Who paid you to break in to my apartment?" Sakura demanded now, her irritation rubbed raw.

"The Dobe-Hokage. I'm trying to bid on a work by Ryou without taking any money from the estate." Sasuke explained and turned to look at her warily, in case her infamous short temper blew a fuse. Instead she remained pretty calm, which scared Sasuke even more.

"Why is he sending people to spy on me? I am a grown woman and do not need any one to babysit me." She said through gritted teeth. "If he thinks he can, I'll just-"

"Leave?" Sasuke cut in and shot her a smirk. "That's exactly what he doesn't want and why I'm here. Don't worry I haven't been 'spying' on you, just popping in to make sure you're still here." He said with a shrug and she glowered at his words.

"You two treat me like a child." She muttered.

"Maybe if you didn't act like one, then we wouldn't."

"Do you really want to start that with me?" Sakura growled and Sasuke only smirked wider at her. "Ugh, fine. It's to early in the morning for this anyway." She huffed and shuffled back to her room. Hey, maybe it wasn't a bad thing that Sasuke was giving her nightly visits, his looks had only gotten better and maybe she could actually have some fun. Then she remembered who it was and almost laughed out loud at the idea.

Sakura flopped down on her bed and rolled back under her covers. She lay there for a good half hour, but could not fall back asleep. Her eyes flew back open and cursed Sasuke to hell for waking her up so damn early. She got to her feet again and decided she'd take a moment to get reacquainted with Konoha, as Naruto had put it. Not many would be up at this hour, so she wouldn't have to put up with their stares.

The morning air stung a little at her face as she stepped outside, but it smelled cool and refreshing. It smelled like the shops that cooked bread down the street, of the blooming trees lining the streets, and distinct sharp smell that comes from foreign lands. It smelled like Konoha.

Sakura jogged her way around the village and was appalled to see that it took her almost an hour, when in her prime as a shiboni she could have lapped the village four or five times by then. She realized she had arrived at the mountain once the ground began a sharp incline, but once she reached the top she took a moment to catch her breath.

The sunrise threw reds and pinks across the sky, and where they joined an odd orange tint. Her breath was the only sound in the morning mist, and once alone she got to thinking again.

Sasuke and Naruto cared about her still, and now that they were adults they could go about showing it better than when they had been shitty teenagers. She appreciated their concern, but still found it insufferably annoying. Especially Naruto's concern. He was the one that had broken her after healing her, and then threw it in her face when he moved on only a month after their break up. Then she fled Konoha two weeks later.

She thought, maybe her separation would give her time to move on and forgive those who had done her wrong, but it had only made her more bitter. How could she forgive Naruto when there were years of unsaid words between them? Without closure? Maybe then her wounds would start to heal. She frowned when she realized she had to talk to him, but that did not mean that she wanted to or would.

_You two treat me like a child._

_Maybe if you didn't act like one, then we wouldn't._

"I'm not being childish." She mumbled and knew that was a blatant lie. "I'm being smart." She added, yes, she was. She was guarding her self from letting that pain in ever again. So what if that meant solitude? She could find happiness there if she searched for it, even if it would be a hallow sort of happiness. The only happiness she ever really had had been with Naruto, the kind that is so bright and immense that anything compared to it would be just a glimmer. It was the kind that blinded you.

"God dammit!" Sakura let out a frustrated howl and slammed her fist to the ground. She felt the earth beneath her shake and she jumped back in shock. The small tremor she sent through the mountain subsided, and she let out a small shaky laugh. She had to be more careful than that with her anger, she was lucky she had been outside and not in her own house.

"Yeah, the great Sakura Haruno taken out by her falling roof." She mumbled to herself as she got to her feet and left behind her thoughts.

Naruto Uzumaki was across Konoha in his house, sitting on the window sill staring out across his village. It were these early morning hours that he loved, when the village was still sleeping peacefully. His wife was asleep in the other room and he wasn't due in the Hokage office for another half hour, so he was left to his own thoughts.

Today Konoha's gossip mill would be full of the latest news, that Hinata Uzumaki was pregnant.

He wondered how Sasuke and Sai would react, he could just hear Sai's jabs. He also wondered how Sakura would react. He never knew with her, she was unpredictable at times, like trying to tame fire. That had always been one thing he admired about her. Naruto found himself smiling bitter sweetly like he always did when thought about her. He used to think of her at night before falling asleep, wondering where in the world she could be and if she was safe and warm. In a way he prayed for her well being, that's all he ever really wanted for her, to be happy.

Kakashi had said that Sakura still hadn't forgiven him. How could she? And more importantly, how could he get her to let go of that grudge that was poisoning her? Naruto was immensely sorry, he had been a stupid kid then and acted out of anger in one second and it had cost him one of the most important people in his life. But now she was back, he thought, and he had to do his best to convince her to stay.

He thought about his daunting task, and then he thought about Sakura and could agree that he was in for one long and frustrating mission.

Naruto wondered for a second what his life would be like now if he had married Sakura instead. Hinata would have ended up with Kiba or someone of her father's choosing. She tried to picture Sakura in a white wedding dress and with a gold band on her finger, but all he could see were long purple tresses and clear white eyes on her face. He had married Hinata, not Sakura, and he was wasting his time with 'what if's'.

Sakura had been the love of his life, and you can't just forget someone like that once they were gone. People always thought that they were to end up with the one they first love, truly love with all their heart, but things did not work that way. Yes, he did love Hinata, but in a different reserved sort of way.

It was a selfish and unfair thing, love.

* * *

**revised 7/12/13**


	6. Cure

thanks everyone for the glowing reviews lol heehee

Kyubi Sama, nope, neva heard of that story until u pointed it out, i personally dont like to read other naruto fanfics to keep from using a bunch of over used fanfic cliche's, and i read (well more like skimmed lol) her story, and there are a bunch of things SIMILAR in hers to mine, but i wouldnt say identical ;) pm me if you want to see what i mean, and ive had this story in my head for about a year and a half but havnt gotten around to writing it until now

MiseryluvsDeath, hinatas baby is narutos kid all the way

someone said they wanted hinata to die? sorry, your review got lost with all the others, wait and see how the story progresses :3

**

* * *

Phobia **

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Six**

**"Cure"**

**-title is Phobia, theres a disease, see what i did thar? xD  
**

**

* * *

**After Sakura's little chat with Hinata, she felt much better. It was odd, as if a little weight was taken off of her. She learned then it was better to express how you feel than hold it in and let it fester and destroy your soul. But she'd forever stay silent towards Naruto, somethings she'd never confess. She already learned her lesson towards him.

She wondered where she would go in her after life, heaven or hell or start another life. She hoped her next life would be better than the one she was living now, that she'd fall in love with some one without any burdens or others praying for its demise. If there wasn't, and she'd just move onto a higher place, she'd probably go to hell for being so bitter and cruel. You were supposed to forgive those who wronged you, so it could set you free and make you a better person.

But there were some people Sakura would never forgive.

_Line Break_

A small piece of paper arrived a few months later, Sakura was a little irritated, having lost three more patients to the disease. She read the notice and recognized Naruto's handwriting.

'Anbu is back, they have the man who created the disease, come to my office for the cure.'

She jumped up so quickly she banged her knees on her desk, cursed, and told Ino she was in charge until Sakura got back. Sakura took a few advanced medic nins with her and they arrived at the Hokage tower a few minuets later. Naruto's office was calm, only the Anbu leader inside going over the mission report.

"Ah, Sakura-chan." Naruto said. He picked up an extremely battered leather folder off his desk and handed it to her tentatively. Sakura took it and opened it, disturbed at how much detail the man went into drawing and writing down his jutsu. There was only one piece of paper in the back, stained with a suspicious brown spot, that had 'The Cure' haphazardly written.

"Alright, I'll take this back to the hospital." She said and turned to leave with the other medics.

"Sakura, wait." Naruto said. Sakura turned back around, slightly frightened he was going to plead with her not to leave. "The man is facing trial, after the Anbu interrogate him, since he is a citizen. The disease effected other nations so the Kage's from the Wind, Mist, and Earth will come to the trial. Your to be a witness on the stands to describe the disease and give your opinion." He said. Sakura let out a silent breath of relief.

"Alright, just send me a date and time, and I'll get right on it." Sakura said and left with her medics.

They arrived back in the Hospital and Sakura charged up to the plague ward, people moving out of her way and she quickly put on the protecting close, keeping her hands free. She marched over to the one closest to death, a girl around 12.

"Stand back." Sakura said and the medics around her keeping the girl alive did just that. Sakura held her hands out and performed the hand signs crudely depicted in the folder. "Pray to god this works." She breathed as she performed the last hand sign, placing it above the girls heart. Light green chakra flowed from her hands, it danced around the girls torso and weaved itself into her chakra system, reminding Sakura of a spider's web. The chakra buckled down tightly and the bruises on the girls body seemed to shrink and disappear, her necrosis back peddled and gaps in her flesh reappeared, and her heart rate as well as breathing returned to normal.

"Did it work?" A medic asked.

"Check her vitals, all medic ninja's come here so I can show you how to perform the cure." She said, pretty soon every medic was huddled around one of the afflicted performing the cure. Sakura rubbed her eyes as sleep pushed at them.

"Sakura-san! It worked!" A doctor called. The girl she first cured was sitting up blinking wearily. Sakura walked over and smiled.

"Your one lucky girl, contact her family." She said. She returned to her office and wrote a small message to Naruto. 'It worked.'

_Line Break_

Another month passed quickly and a select group of medic nins chosen by her were moving out to the other nations to show their medics how to perform the cure. She was also working on a vaccine type cure, but that was taking alot of time.

Tsunade arrived at Sakura's house days after the cure was found congratulating her. Shizune was even with her. Sakura's name was only boasted and her reputation only grew. The man who created the disease, Taro, was facing trial next month. Sakura was intrigued to see Gaara and his siblings again, she had been good friends with Temari before she left.

It had been almost five months since Hinata was pregnant, Sakura was a little disturbed that she knew. She was called in to see Naruto for an odd reason and Sakura had a funny feeling why.

She stepped into his office and he was at his desk.

"Sakura-chan! Good, I have decided to permanently assign you as head of the hospital, you know what that means?" He asked.

"That I'm staying?" Sakura raised her eye brows.

"That, and you have to be reinstated as a ninja. I was going over the law last night, and Tsunade-sama agreed." Naruto said. Sakura let out a hiss.

"Naruto, I told you, I'm not going to be a ninja." She shook her head. Naruto's eyes seemed hurt and Sakura could understand why. If she was a ninja, she'd be bound to Konoha and wouldn't be allowed to leave, not that she was going to but she felt comforted that she had that option, plus she'd be bound to him. She'd have to answer to him. "Not that I'm going to leave, I have no reason to leave anymore, I'm not going to be a coward, this is my home too." Sakura said.

Naruto smiled weakly, "I'm glad to hear that, but if you don't then technically, I can arrest you." Sakura almost jumped back, he was being serious as not only her friend but also the Hokage.

"Let me think it over?" Sakura asked.

"Okay, Sakura-chan, you have three days." He said.

"Stop-Calling-Me-That." Sakura gritted her teeth. He look dumbfounded. "Sakura-chan, I'm not your 'chan'." She said.

"But I've always called you that." He blinked idiotically.

"You kinda lost the right to." She smirked sarcastically. Rage flared inside Naruto for the briefest moment. There is was again. That smirk. She may seem fine with staying in Konoha but Naruto knew that inside she must be suffering, because of him. He wondered how deeply she was scared, no one would ever know though because she was silent with her pain.

"Sakura-chan, please, how badly are you hurt?" He asked, daring to ask something he shouldn't. Sakura's eyes widened then narrowed, her smirk growing deeper. Who did he think he was, asking her that?

"Pretty fucked up." She laughed bitterly.

"I want to help Sakura-chan, I'm still your friend, please let me help." He pleaded, reaching out to her as if they where twelve again and Sasuke had just left, Naruto consoling her. Sakura shrunk away from his reach, her eyes as hard as diamonds.

"Rest assured Naruto-_kun, _I may be nice to you and do what you say, I may help you, but it's for the village, not for you. You are no friend of mine." She spat with enough venom to melt through walls like acid. His eyes widened and Sakura knew she hit a weak nerve, really hit him low. Then he did the weirdest thing, he smiled, but it was bittersweet.

"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry for everything I've ever done to hurt you. Everyday I wake up in a life I regret, if I could, I would take it all back, but it's too late. Could you ever forgive me?" He asked. There it was, the words Sakura had waited five years to hear. Five long lonely years. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No." She said with such finality and solidness, Naruto took a step back, and she looked up at him, the slightest tear threatening to spill from her eye lids, but she had long since lost the will to cry, and she wasn't about to in front of him. Everything in her was screaming yes, she wanted to fall to her hands and knees like a baby and beg for the two to start over, proclaim her ever lasting love for him, but for some reason, she remained quiet. Her own ego was telling her to shut it, that he'd never love her again like that.

Naruto was hurt, he had done the impossible and admitted his guilt to her, all he wanted to do was the right thing, and this seemed to be so. If she only truly spoke her mind, which he knew she wasn't, he knew her to well and could tell when she was putting up a front, he could possibly throw his life away with Hinata and restart with her even if he had a kid with Hinata. Because he loved Sakura and love made you do stupid things, selfish idiotic things, but in the end you where much more happy than when you started.

"There's something more your not saying Sakura-chan, and I wont give up hope on you until you say it, I've never given up hope on those I care for." He said, as if it was a promise. Sakura wanted to scream at him to stop being an idiot and realize he had a life, one without her anymore.

"Then that's your own fault." She choked out and disappeared once again behind the Hokage's door.

She raced, not back to the hospital, but home. She crawled into her window and looked around for something to destroy. There was a wall window propped up she used to look in vainly as a child and imagine it was Sasuke. She punched the mirror. Hard.

Shards flew out and scratched her face and embedded in her knuckles. She drew back cursing and healed the wound, deciding to clean up later. She was sobered up now from the pain, deciding not to cause self harm again. She was messed up but not that much. She headed back to the hospital trying to forget her little deep conversation. It was inevitable, she was surprised he hadn't brought up her conversation with Hinata, which mean someone didn't tell. She gave some props to Hinata for not being a nark.

She arrived at the hospital as the sun descended below the horizon, she had taken her time returning and decided to take the front entrance, slipping into a numb observer exterior.

"Sakura! There you are!" Ino raced over to her wearing disheveled scrubs.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"It's Hinata! She came in over and hour ago!" Ino gasped. Sakura was about to scold Ino for shocking her, since Hinata was probably there for a check up.

"So?" Sakura shook her head.

"She's in labor!" Ino choked out.

* * *

h-h-h-h-holy shyyyt

im thinkin i should up the rating for the cursing? What do you guys think?

I'll probably change the genre to Angst/Romance/Drama too

oh, and i think naruto is a little OOC to, hm, gonna have to work on that lol

yes hinata is only five months preggers, youll find out next chapter what induced her premature birth, its not that creative but it shocked her lol

-sakura is going to birth the baby cause shes the best medic and the baby could die, duhhh

dont worry, little naruto wont die, i was born six months premature :D he should make it lmao

review pls, if you think im takin this story in the right direction or not, whatya think about the characters, yadayadayada...

you know the drill :)


	7. Memories and Regrets

this chapter is for y'alls

italics in this chapter indicate a flashback

do not gots the ownerships of narutos...

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Seven**

**"Memories and Regrets"**

**

* * *

**_Tsunade stared down at her young apprentice, Sakura was playing with a small necklace around her neck that Naruto had given her. Temari was sitting uncomfortably in the chair next to her, looking around Tsunade's office. Hinata was leaning against the door, boring a hole inside the back of Sakura's head with her stares._

_"You don't have to do it, I could find some one else." Tsunade said. Sakura half frowned, lost in her own thought._

_"I don't want to bring my career down because of him..." She said in her thoughts. Hinata stood straight up so fast that the other three all looked at her. She nodded for them to continue._

_"You'll only be gone a year." Temari said stiffly, she had just informed Sakura of a mission proposal, Sakura was to travel to Suna with Temari and Sasuke for him to stand trial for attacking Gaara once. Sine Sasuke's return, Sakura was shocked by how much criminal charges where being brought to him. As well as keep an eye on Sasuke, she was to receive medical training under some of Suna's top medic nins, and held do research on some strange disease that had spread to Suna. (A/N)._

_"I care about Sasuke, if not more than Naruto, but I love Naruto, I couldn't just leave him, is there any chance he could come with me?" Sakura asked. She didn't necessarily trust a certain purple haired girl that was standing behind her now, practically breathing down her neck. Temari shook her head no. _

_"So what is your final answer? Yes or no?" Tsunade asked._

_"I've been relatively happy where I'm at now, I want to watch over Sasuke, he was like my first love, but-"_

_Hinata made an odd noise and the three turned to look at her again._

_"Is something wrong Hinata?" Tsunade finally snapped, wondering why Hinata had barged in in the first place, saying something about how she wasn't assigned missions anymore. _

_"N-n-no, I-I-I'll just-t-t go-o." She stammered out and swept out of the room. Sakura turned back around to face Tsunade, glad Hinata was gone and she could breath easier._

_"Anyway, I love Naruto more, and he's my one true love. I can't just leave him. So No. I wont go." Sakura smiled. _

_"I understand." Tsunade smiled at the young shinobi, glad for once that Sakura had her priorities straight. _

_"Well, gotta respect that." Temari smiled at her friend and the two hugged goodbye. Sakura stepped out of the office, and later out into the streets, the twilight gradually progressing to night. She smiled, light on her step, deciding to pay her beloved Naruto a surprise visit.  
_

Sakura shook her head, this was not a time to go prancing down memory lane. She walked briskly to the maternity ward, not in the mood for much running. Every Hyuuga must have congregated into the hallway outside Hinata's room, they all stepped out of her way_. _Sakura noticed Ino had mysteriously disappeared.

She arrived inside the room, Hanabi at Hinata's side, who was gripping onto Hanabi's hand so hard her knuckles were white, and she wasn't even giving birth yet. Medics where at her side keeping tabs on her vitals, and OBGYN glanced up and let out a sigh of relief. Hinata's eyes widened.

"She'll try to kill my baby!" Hinata said loudly.

"My reputation as a medic is worth more than your little brat." Sakura said and waltzed over, pulling on latex gloves. "So, five months and your already pushin' this sucker out, what induced her labor?" She turned to the OBGYN.

"Shock, something startled her emotionally that her body responded by triggering labor." He said. Sakura nodded and clasped her hands.

"Let's birth us a baby!" She declared.

"What!" Hinata said. Sakura felt oddly clam in this situation, there was a fifty percent chance the baby would be still birth, or die later from being born premature. But, she was a medic ninja, she pulled off greater miracles before. By saving Naruto's kid, maybe she could repay her mistake to him.

"We're probably going to have to do an emergency cesarean section, or do you want to do a traditional birth?" She asked the crazed Hinata.

"I don't care, just...save my baby." Hinata whispered. Sakura felt apathy then for Hinata, she was human after all, and this baby meant the world to her. Hinata was capable of love, no matter how foul she treated Sakura.

"To late, she's dilated to far, the baby is coming." The OBGYN said.

"Pump her with drugs, this is gonna hurt, and someone contact Naruto! He's gonna be a father." Sakura patted Hinata on the head and Hanabi stared at her with an odd respect. The medics moved in to keep Hinata stable and Sakura moved to help the OBGYN give birth. She didn't exactly like the sight of staring at Hinata's nether region. A foot poked out and then another as Hinata pushed. Sakura knew immediately something was wrong, baby's where supposed to come out head first.

"We found dick-less!" Sai arrived then carrying a white Naruto over the shoulder's with an always stoic Sasuke. "He's been surprisingly quiet." Sai added and the two dropped him on a chair near the bed and Hinata released Hanabi from her iron grip (who looked relieved) and grasped onto the numb Naruto's.

The torso was exposed now and then in one great push, the baby was out. It was a boy, with a mop of messy blond hair. It seemed to hop into the OBGYN's hand, but it was silent. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. The whole room was still, no one dared to breath. Even Hinata was quiet, her eyes becoming drowsy and her color becoming fainter.

Sakura sprang into action once again, taking the baby from the OBGYN.

"We're loosing Hinata, medics, do your damn jobs." She ordered them and they started to get to work saving Hinata. Sakura cut off the umbilical cord expertly, Sai and Sasuke watching with an odd curiosity, Naruto with wide scared eyes. The baby's face was a scary blue, and she realized then his lungs where probably flooded. She opened his mouth and sucked out the after birth the baby had swallowed, spitting it out nearby with a look of total disgust on her face.

She did the same on the baby's nose, which was clogged with mucus, deciding she would eat a whole roll of toothpaste when she got home, and patted the baby on the back. He let out a little cough, then opened his eyes and stared into Sakura's green orbs. He had Naruto's blue eyes, just a little lighter from Hinata's genetics, and Minato's face. Not doubt about it, this kid was going to be a heart breaker when he grew up.

After about ten seconds, ten long seconds, the baby let out a wail and the room breathed a sigh of relief. Tears started to run down Sakura's face, actual tears, they where small and landed on the baby's head, clearing small spots of blood. She looked up and locked eyes with none other than Naruto.

_Hinata raced along, her borderline anorexic legs carrying her forward. By the time she reached Naruto's apartment, she was out of breath. She knocked on his door loudly, her hands leaving dents in the wood. The door opened and Hinata almost fell._

_"Whoa, Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked. She coughed, still out of breath. A few moments later, she was sitting at his kitchen table gulping down a glass of water. "You need to eat more, would you like some ramen?" He asked. She shook her head and took a deep breath. _

_"Naruto, I have something to tell you." She murmered, barely audible. He leaned towards her to hear better._

_"Huh? What is it, speak up." He said innocently. Hinata turned beat red._

_"It was Sakura..." Hinata breathed, and quickly told her tale, Naruto keeping up as she went along. She was not around to hear the rest of Sakura's statement, so coming from her it seemed as if Sakura was professing her love for Sasuke once again, leaving with him and deserting Naruto. Once again hoodwinking Naruto, making him to fool. _

_He stared straight ahead, his face a mix of confusion, hurt, and anger._

_"She, but, she." He rambled on.  
_

_"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun." Hinata laid a comforting hand on his. He stood up and baked away, then started to shake and ripped through his doorway, running at top speed down the stairs and out into the streets, Hinata looked after him in shock, then got back up and ran after him.  
_

Naruto blinked and looked down at his hands, then back at Sakura.

Sakura handed the baby back to the OBGYN and the nurses who set about cleaning the baby and wrapping him up in a bright white towel.

"Where loosing Hinata-san!" A medic yelled, the heart monitor was barely beeping. Sakura went to Hinata's bed side and using one of her medical techniques, started to pump Hinata's heart back to normal.

"Put her on life support and take her to the I.C." She said. Twenty minuets later a team of I.C. doctors hustled in through the hall and placed Hinata on a stretcher, then racing back out towards intensive care. One of the nurses walked over to Naruto with the baby, and held him out to Naruto. Naruto stood up and took his child in his arms, holding the baby delicately. Sakura smiled, he looked like a perfect father. Sasuke and Sai leaned in to see the baby and Sasuke poked the child's head.

Naruto moved out to the hall for the other Hyuuga's to see the baby, Hiashi patted the child on his head. Sakura noticed how Naruto kept the baby close to him. Sakura got up and squeezed her self out of the crowd, which was now thinning, come going home, others to see Hinata. The nurses took the baby back to place him in an incubator.

"The baby's first kiss was Ugly, how ironic!" Sai said to Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto said. Sakura froze and turned meekly to look at Naruto.

"Yeah?" She asked. He seemed to have forgotten their little talk earlier.

"Thank you." He smiled, having no idea how those words seemed to always haunt her.

"For what?" She asked.

"For saving my kid." He said, not missing a beat. Sakura smiled, her eyes weak.

"Just doing my job." She said and walked away, returning to her office. Inside, the light was off since she had not been there all day. She weaved her way towards her desk expertly, sitting down in her chair, the moon from outside shining in, casting twisted and distorting shadows around her. One in particular resembled a monster with large claws reaching out to her.

She came so close today, so close to confessing how she really felt. In a way, her ego was like the Epidemic, at first it was mild and only drove her to solitude, then it started to erode her body and soul, making her bitter and cruel, until she was only a shadow of her former self, and it would end up killing her. Attacking her heart, her mind, her lungs. Suffocating her into death.

She wondered if she would ever find a cure, a light to get rid of her guilt and help her speak those words she couldn't bring herself to. They say the truth sets you free.

But the kicker was, she had done nothing wrong. That's why she refused to admit her faults, to say sorry and make up. It had been his fault, he was the one to blame. She chuckled to herself, and then it escalated to laughter, twisted laughter laced with insanity.

This, the ruin she called a life, was because of a few misspoken words. By the time Naruto actually found out the truth, it was to late, Sakura was gone. And he forgave her, the one who had lied to him in the first place.

She wrenched open her desk and pulled out her head band, a thin coat of dust already settled onto it. She wiped it away and stared at her reflection, directly into her eyes. The rest of the memory crept up on her then, and she closed her eyes, ready to come to terms with it, as Sasuke put it.

_Sakura was almost at Naruto's street when she noticed Naruto barreling toward her. Hinata was running after him, her stick legs looked as if they where about to break._

_"Naruto-kun?" Sakura called to him. He skidded to a stop, his eyes fierce._

_"Don't call me that, I'm not your kun." He growled. Sakura stepped back, shock visibly on her face, as well as hurt. _

_"But that's what I.." She trailed off, lost by how furious his face was._

_"You kinda lost the right to." He growled. Hinata skidded to a stop next to him, breathing heavily._

_"What's going on? Are you ok?" She asked._

_"No, I'm not Sakura, You can stop pretending now, I know the truth." He spat, his worse fears finally realized. Sakura loved Sasuke after all, not Naruto._

_"What!" Sakura shook her head, confused deeply._

_"That you love Sasuke-teme. I heard enough, you don't have to lie to me any more. I'm sorry I don't treat you like dirt like he does, I'm sorry I ever loved you." He said._

_"Naruto, I don't love Sasuke! You know this! I love you!" She said loudly, people where starting to stare. Hinata fidgeted, not liking the attention. Sakura was frustrated, what spurred this on? _

_"Well, I don't love you. I hate you. I hate you and I never want to see you again!" He roared loudly, it reverberated inside her ears for several minutes, she was stuck there in a dumb shock. Her eyes as wide as plates and large fat tears running down her face. Hinata's eyes where open in shock as well._

_"Alright, let's go." Kakashi seemed to materialize out of no where and led a shaking Naruto away, Hinata at their tail. _

_"Sakura..." Sai was next to Sakura, nudging her to move. She unglued her legs from where she stood, tearing her eyes away from where her former love stood. A pain collapsed around her and she found she could not walk and she stumbled, falling down head first. Sai caught her and Sasuke appeared, they helped walk her back to her house. Her mother gasped as they brought Sakura in and Sai explained what happened. Sasuke laid her down in her bed, she had turned catatonic and was muttering unintelligible whimpers under her breath as tears streamed down her face. _

_"He, he said.." She tried to say but started to hyperventilate. _

_"I know, I heard, he's an idiot, it will be OK." Sasuke stroked her head friendly. She calmed down and stared at her ceiling with disturbed eyes. As Sasuke left with Sai to "flatten out the dobe", Sakura's hands moved forward and ripped off the necklace Naruto had given her. She threw it, hard, against the wall. It thunked against the wall and bounced to the ground. She rolled over on her bed, closing her eyes, and she squeezed her ears shut, drowning out Naruto's words.  
_

Sakura's eyes fluttered open. She had dosed off in her reverie, but only momentarily. The horrible taste in her mouth returned her to reality, to the present. She flew towards her house, making it in only five minuets, a new record. Her head band clasped in her hands firmly. She walked inisde, the mess she made earlier still there, her blood drying the the carpet where it had spilled.

The mirror was broken beyond repair from her punch, and she looked at her self in it, her reflection distorted gruesomely. Sakura once made a promise to herself, that she would wear the head band on her forehead once she was a true shinobi. She tied it on slowly, the knot from memory. She looked back up and locked eyes with herself. The broken glass adding a dramatic feel to it.

A true shinobi.

_Line Break_

Hinata Hyuuga was holding her baby. He was named Minato Jiraiya Uzumaki. He was nicknamed Little-Naruto. Little-Naruto was an honorary Hyuuga, and safe from the curse mark branding him in the lower branch.

She had been close to death after giving birth, but saved by Sakura. She was confused, did Sakura hate her or not? Hinata leaned back in the hospital bead, still not healthy to go home, or her tiny son.

She remembered the reason why she had been shocked into labor.

She decided to pay a visit to Naruto and go out to lunch with him, since he was so busy all the time. His secretary had said he was in a meeting, but Hinata knew everyone in the village and knew who ever it was wouldn't mind. She was about to open the door when she heard Sakura's voice. She paused and listened in on their conversation. Her fears, instilled by Sakura herself months before, had been confirmed. Naruto still loved Sakura, he didn't outright say it, but he implied it heavily. Sakura, for some reason, was denying it. Hinata left before she could have been discovered and returned home. She holed up in her room, pacing around erratically. She wrenched open the closet to kick her shoes inside and saw an old box she never saw before.

She sat down and pulled the box toward her, and wrenched it open. Inside where old lover letters, photos, and trinkets to the two. This only upset her further, if he couldn't throw them out that obviously meant something.

Because of Hinata, Naruto had received false information, and broke up with Sakura. He had found out what Sakura really said, and the two where so hard headed they didn't want to say sorry to the other until the other one said it first.

Hinata did truly feel sorry for her actions, she had been spiteful, evil in fact. And what did Sakura do in return? Save the life of her child.

Little-Naruto let out a small yawn and she smiled down at him, kissing her son on the head.

The odd thing was, she didn't feel any regrets.

* * *

oh

my

GOSH

that took me four, yes, FOUR hours

i really liked this chapter, and yes, sakura frustrates me to...as well as naruto (but even more so)

as for hinata? I want to shove her off a building but save little naruto hee hee...foreshadowing...

will this end narusaku? will naruto admit he was sorry? whatsa gonna happen with sasuke?

these questions, and more, will be answered in the next thrilling installment of phobia :D

until then, make sure to leave a review :333 author loves the reviews...


	8. Trial

i edited this chapter heavily and some parts are still a bit choppy

do not owns the nahrootoe

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Eight**

**"Trial"**

**

* * *

**

Sasuke Uchiha was pretty chill. Many people passed him off as a jerk or stuck up because so. He used to be like that, but now he was just laid back. He observed everything calmly, taking in his own opinions on the matter, glad he didn't complicate his life. Some people pressured him to shack up with a girl, any girl even, to revive his clan. He had gone on dates with some girls, but not interested. Girls just weren't interesting. Some even suggested Sakura, horrifically, one she used to be a fan girl but did genuinely love at a time. That had went to the way side when he attempted to kill her several times when he was rouge.

Second, she was madly in love with Naruto. One thing about her love, it just didn't quit.

He hardly let any emotions slip out, but he seriously wanted to punch Naruto. Naruto had everything he always wanted, the village, hell, the entire country loved him, he was Hokage, but he just couldn't get his love life straight. Hinata reminded Sasuke of himself eerily, it creeped him out just a little, was Naruto fulfilling some twisted fantasy's with her?

He shook his head because he was about to laugh, even though he was sitting in his own room reading. Sasuke would probably be alone for a while, he didn't mind, but with Sakura he did mind, because she didn't need to be alone.

The entire village shared this general idea, even a few of the Hyuuga's.

Those two needed to get their shit straight.

And you know your messed up when an Uchiha was telling you you where.

_Line Break_

Naruto Uzumaki was extremely busy. Not with just his regular tasks as the Hokage, but also with the upcoming trial against the man who invented the disease, Taro. Naruto was to oversee the trial, in normal cases they didn't concern him, but since the disease had crossed into different country's it was considered an international affair.

Gaara had arrived weeks later accompanied by his siblings as usual, and guards from Suna. The Mizukage was due any day, and Naruto wasn't looking forward one bit to seeing her since she always hit on him. The Tsuchikage, from the Earth country, had arrived shortly after Gaara and had nothing but criticism for Konoha, saying Naruto was to young to be a Kage, and when Gaara informed him he had been younger when he became the Kage of Suna, the Tsuchikage shook him off.

Those had been the three countries affected by the disease, the other countries successfully now immune to it thanks to Sakura's cure. She had managed to make a vaccine type cure a months or so after performing the jutsu cure.

Tsunade actually came out of her home for once, other than going to the casino or bar, she went to see the other kage, Onoki (Tsuchikage) greeting her warmingly, much to Naruto's frustration. He was also busy with his family, Hinata was still under intensive care despite being conscious, her heart was weak and other vitals low. Her doctor was considering putting her in an induced coma to heal better. His tiny son, Minato, was in an incubator still, but over all healthy.

He hadn't seen Sakura in over a month and a half, but he'd see her at the trial when she took the stands. He had missed her, their talk had emotionally drained him, but he was that much closer to getting her to admit her true feelings.

That's all he cared about, the truth.

_Line Break_

Sakura placed three thick volumes of medical text books on Ino's desk. Ino was still a field medic, but kept an office at the hospital with the other medics.

"What are these?" Ino asked, opening one slowly.

"These are the medic books Tsunade-sama made me memorize front to back." Sakura said, crossing her arms.

"I have to-?" Ino looked at them with frightful eyes.

"Take your time, I'll be busy with the Trial, but a promise is a promise, and I did say I would train you." Sakura said. Sakura had trained Ino some what when they where teenagers, but not to the extent Tsunade did with Sakura.

"Thanks! Are you going to leave after the Trial?" Ino asked with cautious eyes.

"Kinda can't." Sakura winced and tapped her headband. The two said good bye and Sakura left. She returned to her office to collect her papers ready for the trial later in the morning. She wore a doctor's white lab coat, her signature black shorts with a white mini skirt over it and a similar red shirt she wore as a chuunin except it had more of a turtle neck-neckline, and her old black boots. Her hair was still long, she thought about cutting it but decided not to.

Her headband looked normal on her head, and Sakura admitted she had missed it's framing affect on her hair. The courtroom was apart of the jail, the actual prison isolated out in the wilderness. People were milling around it, the crowd a good size. She slipped inside, the few media outlets hounding her with questions.

"Miss Haruno?" An important looking man asked her, decked out in a suite.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"Are you here for the trial?" He asked.

"No dip." She rolled her eyes, he smiled meekly at her and lead her to the court room. It was large, almost the size of a church or temple. It was almost full with those lucky enough to get seats and watch, mostly those who had been affected by the disease and survived, and the families of those who perished. Almost all of the heads turned to her as she walked to her seat behind the prosecutor's side. A few reached out to shake her hand and she returned them with smiles and took her seat next to Tsunade who had showed up to help with Sakura's testimony. Naruto, Gaara, Onoki, and Mei where sitting in front, Naruto turned around in his seat to smile at her and Sakura smiled back. Well, the corners of her mouth twitched up.

She almost laughed when she saw Lee and Kiba in the jury. Lee was wearing a green suite and Kiba hadn't bothered to get dressed up at all, and even had his dog on his lap. Well, Sakura couldn't complain, she wasn't dressed up. There was a tap on her shoulder and she turned to see Sai, Sasuke, and Kakashi sitting behind her.

"Hey Ugly! Aren't you going to take the stand?" Sai whispered to her.

"Shut up Sai, and yes." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I wish this thing would hurry up, I'm only here because there is nothing else to do." Kakashi said. His book slowly drifted up to his face and he flipped a page.

"Is that appropriate Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura hissed.

"What?" He asked, not even looking up. Sasuke was staring forward, as impassive as ever.

"All rise!" A voice boomed. Everyone shuffled to their feet as the judge entered the room, he was an old relic and Sakura wondered where they dug up that fossil from. Taro was drug in, his arms and legs chained. This was the first time she got a good look at him. He had grizzled hair tied into a small pony tail, his face was rectangular and sagged, and his eyes. They where dark black with no depth to them, like they had no life.

"Taro, you are charged with high crimes against humanity, illegally, willingly and knowingly creating a jutsu to cause harm against your fellow man. How do you plead?" The judge asked. Taro smiled broadly, as if smiling at a lover.

"Guilty." He said, his voice light and boyish. He reminded Sakura of Orochimaru, not as cynical or smart, but just as evil and twisted. Naruto slouched down in his seat in front of her, and Tsunade roughly yanked him back up. Sakura chuckled at the display.

"If convicted, you face the death sentence, let's begin." The judge said, slamming his gavel down with resounding hardness. The defense for Taro was a team of rag-tag lawyers, and they obviously looked as if they didn't want to be defending him. The lawyers fighting against him started with witnesses who had been affected by the disease, and the family members of those killed, some where even ninjas from the other countries affected. A good two hours passed and Sakura had to shift around in her seat because her butt became numb.

She was bored out of her mind, the jury was obviously going to convict Taro, then her name was called. She perked up and looked around.

"Miss Haruno? Would you like to take the stands to testify?" The lawyer against Taro asked. Sakura agreed and made her way to the stand, swapping places with the last person and sat down. She didn't like how everyone stared at her with wide eyes. It made her uncomfortable, as if she was on trial.

"Now, is it true that you discovered the cure for the disease?" The lawyers asked. Sakura wanted to sigh if he was going to ask these hum-drum questions.

"Yes, but Mr. Taro had already made it, I just found out how to do it." Sakura said, leaning back in her chair.

"Alright, can you please explain the disease to us?" The lawyer asked.

"Well, only people with a chakra system can contract it since it is a jutsu. It mimics a disease and manifests itself as a common cold, and then it becomes severe like the flu. Once it progresses to a flu, boils and bruises develop on the skin and they progress to necrosis, that is, the skin starts to eat itself and rot as if you were a corpse. Once that starts, the brain swells and inflames, other organs start to fail rapidly, such as the lungs or heart. The person will die of suffocation of the lungs, blood, brain, or all three. The disease is powered by your own chakra system, so basically, you kill yourself inadvertently." Sakura explained.

The expressions on the average people's face were that of horror, and some of confusion who were lost by her big words.

"How many have been lost by this disease?" The lawyer asked.

"In Konoha, three hundred-and-ninety four, over all five thousand or so." Sakura said, feeling like the reaper of death as she relaid the news.

"I rest my case." The lawyer said and smugly walked back over to the bench.

"And you, the defense?" The judge asked.

"We're good." They shrugged. Sakura was allowed to leave, and she sat back at her seat next to Tsunade who gave her a thumbs up.

"That concludes the procedings for today, we'll pick up from here tomorrow." The Judge said and slammed his gavel down. Sakura muttered 'thank god', under her breath and stood up to leave.

"Sakura-chan." A voice said and Sakura looked up. It was Naruto. "May I have a word?" He asked. Everyone was looking at Sakura with expectant eyes and she cursed inwardly.

"Uhm, okay." She grumbled in defeat. Naruto walked ahead into the hall that was filling up with those in the trial. Sakura stood back reluctantly, and Tsunade grabbed her by her arm and drug her towards him.

"Hey!" She hissed and Tsunade released her in front of him. He didn't look fazed, just impatient. "What-"

"We can't talk here, meet me in my office next Monday?" He asked. Sakura crossed her arms.

"I'm sure what ever it is you have to say can be said in public." She said, smirking just to be difficult. Naruto wanted to grind his teeth together. There it was, that freaking smirk again. He thought he had gotten rid of it the last time, but she hadn't been quite friendly.

"Be there after noon, if not, I'll just have a few ANBU drag you, okay?" He winced, trying to be patient with her.

"Naruto, I don't think-"

"Sakura!" Tsunade's distant voice bellowed and a look for fright fell over Sakura that Naruto almost laughed.

"Fine." She spat and spun on her heel once more, marching away from him. She walked to the streets, her anger gradually ebbing to annoyance, wondering where Tsunade was.

"Miss H-H-Haruno?" A voice stuttered. Sakura froze, for one crazy moment she had thought it was Hinata back when they where twelve and Hinata had the tendency to stutter. Sakura turned around and a girl was standing there. She looked about fifteen or sixteen, and Sakura vaguely recognized her.

"Huh?" Sakura grunted out.

"Um, my name is Moegi, and we've meet before, but you probably don't remember." The girl fidgeted. Sakura vaguely recognized her now, thinking her hair was odd, the way to defied gravity.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked.

"Uhm, I-I, well, I was wondering if you would train me!" The girl spat out nervously and closed her eyes. "I'm still a genin and I'm the weakest out of my group! Konohamaru-kun is being trained by Naruto-san and Udon-kun is even trying to get Sasuke-san to train him, and I'm just a joke! I don't want to be weak anymore, and your the strongest Kunoichi in the world! Your a Sannin!" She finished, her eyes closed still, wrenching her hands.

Sakura had to take a step back, it was like seeing the ghost of herself, well, almost, before her begging Tsunade-sama to train her. Sakura wanted to tell Moegi she already had an apprentice, Ino. Then that really disturbed her, Ino was Sakura's Shizune, and Moegi could be Sakura's, well, Sakura.

She closed her eyes and let out yet again another sigh. She really was getting annoyed at all the sighing.

"Alright, I'll train you. Come buy the Hospital Saturday at noon, and we'll begin." Sakura smiled.

"Really? Thank you Sakura-san! I mean, Sakura-sama!" Moegi beamed, gave Sakura a hug and ran off. Sakura got back after dinner, but she wasn't hungry. Ino badgered her about the trial, but Sakura shooed her off, being under and oath of silence, and reminded her to read those medical text books. She would need them later for Moegi's training.

**H**inata Hyuuga was awake.

After shortly being allowed to hold her baby, he was put back in the incubator, and would remain there for several months until he was fully developed. Now she often felt weak and couldn't hold down her food well. She was teetering toward being put on life support, but no one could figure out what was wrong with her. She didn't have the Pink Disease, since her skin and organs showed no signs of infection.

"We're going to put you in an induced coma, is that okay?" Her doctor asked.

"What if you don't?" Hinata said, her voice small.

"Then you may die." The doctor said gravely. Hinata closed her eyes and nodded.

A few hours later, she wasn't awake.

In her stillness, she was allowed to think. But before she could even relieve any happy memories with Naruto-kun, or daydream about her upcoming life as a homemaker, she saw Sakura. Hinata frowned, she didn't want this bitch in her dream. Not that she hated Sakura, she just felt uneasy around her. You'd think Hinata would be a little more grateful on account that Sakura saved the life of her only child.

"I've been selfish my entire life, but never, have I ever been as selfish as you." Sakura said, her green eyes judging Hinata.

Sure, Hinata had been selfish, but overall, she was a good person. She didn't wish death on anyone, she never had a bitter thought, she was kind and well liked by most of the villagers, but isn't everyone a tad bit selfish? Hinata had wanted a happy life with Naruto, and she got that. She hadn't meant for Sakura to suffer, but Sakura clung onto her love for Naruto like an immature child. Sakura should just move on and hook up with Sasuke already.

If she was an evil person, karma would have gotten her back already.

She did admit, if it wasn't for her bad information then things would have turned out differently. She had reacted quickly when she heard Sakura speak that she loved Sasuke, but only to put him down.

But Hinata wasn't the one who had left Konoha like an idiot, if Sakura had gone to the wedding and interrupted it, instead of holding her peace, Naruto would have shoved Hinata into the cake and frenched Sakura then and there. But she didn't. And Naruto was with Hinata fair and square. Naruto wasn't a hateful person, so he forgave Hinata.

But would he ever forgive Sakura?

Hinata smiled sweetly at the dream Sakura, who disappeared into the emptiness.

Empty.

"Like you." Sakura's voice said.

* * *

oh lawdy-lawdy,

sorry for the late updates D: school got back into gear, and i was as busy as a bee x3 honors AP american english as well as AP american history are not fun subjects

im feelin next chapter will skip ahead a few months after the trial is over and sakura has another epic talk with naruto,

just wait, narusaku fans will rejoice...hinata fans will be shocked, to clarify so far it's been six months since sakura returned :3

leave the reviews, cause i cannot function with out thems...


	9. For Five Years

whoa, thanks for all those reviews and faves, alerts, etcs

some one said they wanted sakura to be with sasuke or sumthin like that? sorry, your review got lost with the others, and well, i seriously considered putting that in and even wrote out a scene with the two kissing in a few chapters ago, but cut it out because it would jack up the plot and make the story alot longer x) you can tell i was leaning toward that in the earlier chapters when sasuke was with her all the time

also, to clarify, this takes place about 10 years after the main story, and akatsuki as well as madara are gone. i predict that naruto will have an epic fight with sasuke, defeat him and convert him to good, sakura will step in and be all heroic and the three will help destroy madara and the akatsuki and become heros then naruto will become hokage, etc...or something along those lines lol

also...my other stories? i will finish full dark, but i want to go back and rewrite the other chapters, since that one ehm, hurtful, review i got really brought me down lol

oh, and yes, i was originally going to have little-naruto have purple hair like hinata but was like, nah

i have not, and never will, own any legality to the Naruto franchise xD

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Nine**

**"For Five Years"**

**

* * *

**The rest of the trial went of smoothly. It only lasted two more days. Sakura didn't show up for the rest, she wasn't required to since she already gave her testimony. Taro was of coarse, convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Sakura was to oversee it being the head of the hospital.

The rest of the village was celebrating, there was a little festival going on and Naruto was hosting a dinner party at his house. Sakura wondered who would cook all the food since Hinata was still in the hospital hanging onto what little life she had left. Sakura meet Mei at the trial, who oddly recognized Sasuke and then proceeded to give Sakura advice on how to make her boobs grow. Mei reminded Sakura of a insane Tsunade, if that was possible.

Ino had surprisingly memorized the medical books, and Sakura ordered her to practice her chakra control. Sakura had the best chakra control probably in the entire fire country, and she was not about to go having an apprentice who was horrible at it. She wouldn't reward Ino with super strength, she didn't need it, and Sakura enjoyed being the only one besides Tsunade with such a feet. But, she'd eventually teach Moegi super strength as well, who had started to training and Sakura did her best to re-administer to Moegi what Tsunade first taught her.

Outside, the small festival was underway, those who would usually stay inside on nights were out basking in the happyness. Everyone was probably wondering where Sakura had holed herself up to, since she was being glorified as a hero for "discovering" the cure.

She was in her room, reading. Exciting.

She had been invited to Naruto's diner party, but going to his house was a bad idea. She'd start to have thoughts about being the one who should have married him, what house they would have lived in, how she would have decorated, the whole nine yards. Not fun.

She was also not looking forward to her little chat with him the next day, she was currently devising of ways she could escape.

"Sakuraaaa!" A voice called from outside. She peeked out of the window, and saw none other than Ino standing there. She was with Neji, Tenten, and Sai.

"What?" She asked.

"Come on down and celebrate!" Ino smiled. Sakura assessed the situation. Ino was probably on a date with Sai, hence the closeness, and Neji and Tenten where dating. Sakura would be the only one alone, and the awkwardness would be thickly plastered in the air.

"Uhm, no." Sakura said.

"Why not?" Ino frowned.

"I have to go to some dinner party." She said.

"Oh! Okay!" Ino smiled and the group left, Sai looked back at her wearily as they where eaten up the the crowd. He knew what dinner party she had lied about, and would probably ask Naruto about it later. She walked outside, but she sure as hell wasn't going to that dinner party. She glanced up at the Hokage mountain, Naruto's face was still cracked under his cheek.

She walked up the mountain seeking solitude, fireworks exploded nearby and children cheered along with their drunk parents. She reached the top in record time, and walked to the edge slowly until there was little space left between her and oblivion. She peeked down and her heart raced at the thought of such a fall.

"Sakura?" A voice gasped. Sakura turned and saw Temari standing and staring at her with wide eyes. The sand nin was much taller than Sakura remembered, her hair was pretty much the same and her giant fan was absent.

"I wasn't going to jump, if that's what you thought." Sakura said quickly.

"Just step back from the ledge please? Your making me nervous." She said. Sakura complied and took three large steps back.

"What are you doing up here?" Sakura asked the blond.

"Just out for a walk, you?" Temari asked.

"I was invited to a dinner party." Sakura said, sounding like a dork. Temari furrowed her brow. "I ditched it." She clarified and Temari nodded.

"So, Sannin, have I heard some rumors about you." Temari smiled and waltzed over to Sakura. The two sat down simultaneously near the edge and Sakura gazed across the village.

"Oh, joy." Sakura said with heavy sarcasm.

"Don't worry, it's all positive. What's new with you?" Temari asked.

"I have an apprentice... and I'm in love with a married man." Sakura said.

"I heard about that. Why don't you just tell him?" Temari asked. Sakura's eyes roved over the village, the stars glowing over head, below music drifted up towards them, laughter and voices mixed in loudly. If only it was that easy, just tell him.

"It's complicated." She muttered, hugging her knees to her chest.

"If you love some one, you love some one, how is that complicated?" Temari asked. Sakura was envious then of Temari, who had a straight view of the world and didn't give a damn about what others thought.

"He loves Hinata." Sakura murmured.

"So? I've seen them together, and I saw you two together. That was love, what he has with Hinata is just a cheap imitation. How do you think I felt when I made my move for Shikamaru? I knew Ino had feelings for him, and he had mild ones for her as well, but at the end if the day he choose me, and if he didn't then at least I had the closure of knowing I tried." Temari explained.

Sakura was stunned at Temaris pep talk, wondering where the hell it came from.

"Your with Shikamaru!" She blurted out, no one had told her.

"Oh, shut it." Temari rolled her eyes. Sakura laughed, it had been obvious when they where younger that Temari and Shikamaru had something going on with one another. "I'm just giving you advice, everyone can see that you two still love one another, it gets frustrating." Temari smiled. Sakura nodded, silent.

"Where is your lover anyway?" Sakura asked, trying to take the attention off of her.

"Asleep...lazy ass." She muttered. Sakura chuckled to herself. Tomorrow she was to see Naruto over God knows what, maybe she could swallow her pride for once. Maybe.

**A**cross the village, Naruto sat at the dinner table in his dining room, done up in his Hokage robes. The other Kage's sat in their respective seats, other respected ninjas chatting happily. Kakashi was of coarse reading his porn. Sasuke was sitting between two female ninja guards of Gaara who where drooling over him. Gaara was sitting with Kankuro next to him and the two were talking absentmindedly.

Tsunade was there with Shizune, the former sitting next to Naruto.

"So, Naruto, what are you going to talk with Sakura about?" Tsunade tried to ask slyly.

"About Hinata's condition. I didn't want everyone to hear that she's close to dying." Naruto said idiotically. Tsunade's jaw dropped and she slammed her fist on the table. Everyone turned to look at her with fear filled eyes. They all turned away as she unfurled her fist.

"Look, Naruto, Sakura was one of my students, and I think of her as a daughter, you know? I'm tired of looking into her eyes and seeing something dead staring back at me. She'll never get over you, no matter what she says, so you need to stop being oblivious and in denial about how you feel as well, and suck-it-up. Hinata is not good for you, she can hardly bare a child." Tsunade growled through clenched teeth quietly.

"I'm not with Hinata because of babies!" Naruto gasped. Tsunade smacked him across the head, hard that Naruto feel forward a bit and tears ran from his eyes.

"Ow! Tsunade-sama! Respect your Hokage!" He said. His ANBU squad didn't even move to protect him, a few where even sneaking food.

"I'll respect him once he gets his act together." Tsunade growled.

"So, are you really a Sannin?" One of the fan girls drooled. Sasuke closed his eyes slowly and looked very keen to draw out his katana. Naruto stared at his plate, some food that was popular in the Village hidden in the Rocks. He picked at it, ignoring Tsunade's stares. Why was he with Hinata? He had loved her truly, and wished for her happyness, but for some reason, he could not stop thinking about Sakura.

"Dobe, you are extremely lucky to have found true love. Don't waste it." Sasuke spoke up from his spot. The entire room stared at him in shock and even Gaara had his mouth open. Here was an Uchiha, being deep. He looked around, confusion painted on his face as to why the room was gaping at him.

"I'll be your true love!" One fan girls gushed.

"No, I'll be his true love!" The other growled and the two started to biker. Sasuke slammed his head on the table.

"Shouldn't you tell them to behave?" Kankuro asked Gaara.

"No." Gaara replied and a smile twitched at his lips.

Naruto watched this display of selfish love and knew Sasuke was right. Hinata was love, but what he had with Sakura was on a whole other level, and that's something you just don't forget easily. He decided then that he'd confront Sakura about her feelings, no matter what.

_Line Break_

Sakura woke up in the early morning, outside the streets were littered with confetti and other signs of a party. It seemed as if the entire village was hung over. She checked into the hospital early, it was surprisingly quiet since people tended to hurt themselves while drunk during festivals. Today was the day Taro was to be killed. He was being held in the basement of the hospital which was a makeshift jail if need be for things like this.

Many didn't like the death sentence, they argued people should atone for the sins they committed. There wasn't much atoning while you where being burned alive in hell, or whatever happens when people die. Sakura wondered if Hinata had ever heard of such an action, to atone. Well, Sakura sure hadn't, she was sitting around holding a grudge. The elevator pinged and she stepped out into the hallway. She made her way to the room, ANBU was stationed outside the doors, and at least ten more inside.

"Ah, Miss Haruno, we couldn't start without you." The mortician smiled at her, he had a stretcher and body bag ready. She stamped and signed the documents readying the procedure, the doctor in charge of his death was flicking the tube of poison to be set into Taro's system.

Taro himself was strapped down to a table that was cranked all the way up until he seemed to be standing up. His hair was cut and he was clean shaven. 'Die young, leave a beautiful corpse.' Sakura thought and shivered.

"Ah, Haruno-san, the one who did me in." Taro winced at her.

"Well, Taro, I think you did your self in, any last words?" She asked, trying not to stare into his empty eyes. Taro looked ahead, and his smile disappeared, his face seemed haunted by a ghost from his past. As if he was looking at some one.

"Do you think the ones I killed had any last words?" He asked her. Sakura was disgusted by this man, but also pitied him, she was messed up, but not nearly as badly as him.

"We'll never know, their lives where cut short, that's all I can say." Sakura said firmly. Taro smiled again, his disturbing facade returning.

"There are some things I'd rather not say. Those are my final words." He said and started to hum. Sakura looked at the doctor and nodded. Taro looked at her, he was staring at her even. As if he knew. Knew her and her own daemons. The doctor injected the man with the poison, it went to work quickly, and Taro's eyes seemed to dull until they where foggy, all tension in his limbs went slack and his gaze froze at Sakura.

She stood there, staring back at the corpse. The mortician closed Taro's eyes and several medics helped him put the body into the body bag.

"Taro, officially dead at 8:06 am." Sakura declared, writing down on his death certificate.

One thing about a hospital, it carried both death and life.

Sakura decided to pay a visit to Little-Naruto. His real name was Minato Jiraiya Uzumaki. Sakura thought it was noble of Naruto to name his son after his father and his old sensei. Sakura still liked calling him Little-Naruto. He was the smallest baby, no bigger than a baby doll. He wore a special diaper and had his hands and feet curled toward him in sleep. He wasn't crying like the other babies, he was napping peacefully. He had faint whisker marks on his face and Sakura could sense a few bits of the nine tails chakra inside him.

In his nap, Little-Naruto stirred and his wide eyes opened. They were blue like his father's, but the slightest shade brighter from his mother's genetics. Sakura wondered if he would have the byakugan. The baby's eyes roved around him and rest on Sakura's green eyes. He stared back and seemed to recognize her as the woman he first saw when he was brought back from the brink of death.

Sakura found herself smiling at the baby, and he made a weird motion with one of his chubby hand's, squeezing it shut then open. Sakura smiled wider, and copied the motion back at him. She may have looked like an idiot, but everyone was a sucker for babies. She wondered if he would be great like his father, and if his mother's foulness had reached him.

'No.' She thought and smiled, he was pure, as pure as Naruto. He was definitely born inherently good, with a heart of gold as well. It was up to the world around him to decide if he was to be tainted.

She left and made her way to her office, she'd have to see said baby's father later, and she felt an odd sensation in her stomach. Butterflies.

The rest of the day passed by much to quickly for Sakura's liking. She had a little tiff with the head of finances, since they had over spent their budget. She had missed lunch and Moegi arrived for their training, then by the time she remembered her appointment, two ANBU where waiting outside her office.

"Haruno-san, we where sent by the Hokage." One said. Sakura glowered at them. She was a grown woman who could kick both of their buts. She followed them willingly, Moegi chatting at her side and they made it to the Hokage tower a few minutes later. She shook the ANBU off at his door and threw it open. Naruto was making paper airplanes when she walked in and jumped back.

"Oh, hello! I thought you forgot!" He said.

"Moegi, wait outside." Sakura told her young apprentice.

"Yes ma'am." Moegi bowed respectivly and sat on a bench outside Naruto's office.

"No, I was busy at the hospital. So what do you want? I have to train Moegi." She answered Naruto, rubbing her eyes. Naruto raised his eye brows, so Sakura now had an apprentice, and on top of it all, it was Moegi who Konohamaru had a small crush on.

"I just wanted to thank you for your testimony at the trial. You really helped bring Taro justice." He said. Sakura was about to sucker punch Naruto if that's what he called her there for.

"Is that what you wanted?" She said slowly and dangerously.

"Oh, no, the village council wants to build a memorial of us, you, me, and Sasuke-teme next to Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade-sama, and Orochimaru's memorial." Naruto said.

"Isn't it a little early to go building memorials of us? We haven't really done anything." Sakura said. Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"Of coarse we have." He said, finally deciding to address the gigantic elephant in the room. He then took a deep breath. "Sakura, I'm sorry." He said and looked at her, his face a dead calm, he was serious. Sakura blinked a few times, her heart crashing in her chest. Did he seriously just say that?

"For...what." She stated slowly. She had to keep a lock on her emotions, she had the urge to throw her self at him. Funny how after all those years apart she still loved him. Naruto stood up and walked around his desk, Sakura was rooted to her spot, she followed his every motions with wide eyes.

"For what I did five years ago. I acted on an impulse with out thinking and seeing the logic right in front of me." He whispered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. Sakura let out a small gasp, it was the necklace he had given her long ago. "I'm sorry, I truly am." He said as if he was talking to a lover. He pressed the necklace in her hands. She stared at it, and she wanted to fling the thing back at him.

"I was talking with Tsunade-sama at the dinner party and she made me see my errors. How much I was hurting you." He smiled sadly. Sakura knew what he was expecting. He wanted her to admit her love to him, everyone said she still loved him, now she'd have to prove it. Naruto watched her closely, wishing he could read her mind. A million emotions where playing across her face.

"Originally I was going to talk to you about Hinata and her condition." He added, trying to get her to talk. She inhaled deeply and looked up at him.

"For five years I suffered. For five years I cried myself to sleep and tried my best to forget you. I lived alone and sought not human companionship. I left my home, I left my friends. And I dreamt of the day you would come back to me. How I would confess I still loved you. And I do. I can't understand why I do. You basically spit in my face and abandoned me." She said, her voice small and tiny in the beginning, then it started to get louder and more angry as she went along. She took another deep breath and shook her head. "But yet, I love you. I forgive you, and I'm sorry for what ever I had done to hurt you, even though it's not my fault." She whispered.

I tremendous burden felt as if it was lifted from Sakura's shoulder's, years of guilt washed out of her, the word's she never spoken finally muttered into reality. She knew then she'd be okay, if she where to die then, she'd go to heaven for sure, she had done the impossible, she gotten over her own ego and pride. Forgiven those who had wronged her in the worse way. Found a cure for her own phobia.

Naruto could almost jump for joy. His Sakura was coming back, getting rid of the bitter one that had taken her place.

"Sakura-chan, I-" He whispered then sprang forward. Acting yet again on another impulse, his lips met Sakura's perfectly and he wrapped his arms around her waist, squeezing his eyes shut._ 'I love you Sakura-chan, I always have and always will!' _

Sakura stumbled back in shock, her eyes wide open and Naruto's mouth assaulted her own. It felt good, normal even, her heart thundered inside her own chest even more so and she felt an aching to entangle her hands in his hair and kiss back. She closed her eyes and she wanted to pretend then that Naruto was her's and her's alone.

But he wasn't. Naruto belonged to Hinata. They had a small family growing and in the end he'd go back to her, his wife. She unlocked her hands that where hanging by her sides and shoved at him roughly. He fell back and blinked at her with wide innocent eyes.

"You're a married man Naruto!" She said, almost yelling. She shook her head, small pitiful tears falling from her eyes. "You're a married man." She repeated in a smaller voice and turned to leave.

"Sakura-chan-!" He called as she stormed out of the room.

"Sakura-sensei?" Moegi asked Sakura, dumbfounded, and raced after her as Sakura walked past her in all of her fury.

_Line Break_

Time passes, whether we like to or not. Sakura knew this to well. Five years blinked by her, only remembered by the constant feeling of loneliness. She avoided Naruto like the plague, if she had to send him reports, she'd have her secretary send it_. _She checked on Hinata and Little-Naruto. Hinata's face was permanently plastered into that off a suffering, a deep frown with large black circles under her face. Sakura was slightly alarmed by her weight loss, but thought nothing of it, she was currently fed through a tube.

Her days became monotonous, she found those staring at her with worried eyes, as if she was going to run again. She only felt normal while training the young Moegi or trying to teach the thick headed Ino. Her parents pressured her to move out, now that she had all of her debts repaid and more than enough money to rent an apartment, hell, she could buy a nice sized house. Sakura was just afraid, she didn't want to be alone in the silence of an empty space. She might go mad.

Almost four months passed, and it had been about a year since Sakura returned. The bitterness of winter swept through Konoha, sweeping it in a white blanket to cover all of the village's ugly scars.

Hinata was deemed healthy enough to go home by her doctor, and Sakura signed off for it. She left with her son in arm, wrapped in a thick blanket. She was escorted by her fellow clansmen, no doubt she'd have some midwives to help her around to house and a nanny with the child. Sakura gazed out of the foggy window of her office and with her finger drew a small heart.

**T**he purple haired and white eyed ninja sat down with her son in the rocking chair. While she was healing, some of her clansmen, more like women, surprised her and renovated an empty room in her house for a nursery. The walls where blue trimmed with pictures of fluffy teddy bears. Toys where neatly stuffed inside several small bins, a crib and diaper changing station where against the walls, and this small rocking chair in the corner.

Minato(jr) was asleep in her arms, he really made little fuss. She kissed him on her head and laid him gently in her crib and turned on the baby monitors, others strategically placed through out the house. Hours later Naruto walked through the front door. He looked tired and haggard, his face sunken.

"Did you get much rest while I was gone, Naruto-kun?" Hinata smiled at her husband, the father of her child, still stuck in her world of ignorant bliss, trying to forget her own conscious that assaulted her while she was in a coma. Naruto smiled at her, but anyone who knew him well could tell it was the smile he used when he was hurt but in denial.

"Not really." He yawned and visited Minato for a short while, and even fed him a bottle. Tonight the house was empty except for the two and their baby.

Hinata started making dinner, pulling out pots and pans to make Naruto her home made ramen.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked coolly in the hallway. Hinata was shocked by the amount of animosity in his voice.

"Making dinner." She stated. Naruto shook his head.

"Don't exert yourself." He said quietly and Hinata was touched that he cared so much. "Can I ask you something? It's been bothering me for a while." Naruto said.

"Sure." Hinata asked, wondering what on earth it could be.

"It happened a long time ago, so you might not remember." Naruto started. "You where in Tsunade-sama's office and Sakura was turning down a trip. You told me later and it was false information. If you hadn't things could have been alot different, now I don't have a problem, but you never apologized to me or Sakura-chan." Naruto said, his voice firm. Hinata had a spike in fear, what had happened when she was in her coma?

"Chan?" Was all she said, her heart starting to pick up its pace and her hands began to sweat. Naruto continued to stare at her, demanding an answer with his eyes. A pain rose in Hinata's chest and she coughed, then it escalated rapidly and she was coughing loud bone rattling coughs.

"Hinata-!" Naruto ran toward her and caught her as her grip on the table gave way. Blood bubbled out and onto her hands as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

**S**akura was washing her face in the sink of the doctor's bathroom. She was about to clock out and felt far from sane that day. She stepped out into the hall way and fixed her shoes.

"Sakura-sama! Sakura-sama! SAKURA-SAMA!" A voice called. Sakura's head swiveled around and a medic was running toward her.

"What?" She barked.

"It's Hinata-san! Naruto-sama came in a few moments ago, her condition is failing, she'd close to death!" He spat out and Sakura followed him immediately. She was in the Intensive Care unit, Ino was at her side, trying to keep her stable using a healing technique. The whole room seemed to relax as Sakura set foot inside, and she registered Naruto over Hinata, watching.

"Get back!" She said and strode over to Hinata's side. Her eyes where open but rolling all over the place. Sakura scanned her quickly with a medical jutsu that allowed her to see her vitals better than any x-ray. She found nothing wrong, except her lungs where infected with something she'd never seen before. It wasn't tuberculosis, yet it clogged any available space, and it was cutting her lungs open, bleeding them dry and sneaking it's way up to her heart, then she noticed it was running through her chakra system.

Sakura's breath speed up, and she feared the impossible.

"No, I cured that." She whispered, the room listening with baited breath.

"Cured what?" Ino asked, fear written in her dark blue eyes. Sakura examined the infection closer, and her worst fear was realized.

"It mutated inside her." Sakura breathed in complete repulsiveness, stepping back and wringing her hands, her mind reeling.

"What mutated inside her!" Naruto shook Sakura's shoulders. Sakura's eyes meet his and she was instantly reminded of the kiss he stole. She shrunk from his reach.

"The Pink Syndrome, she contracted it unknowingly, while in her coma it mutated, it's noe immune to the cure." She said in a tiny voice, but in the still room it was if she shouted. The room was plunged into chaos as officials ran around the room, trying to close it off and quarantine it, others dashing out to tell the news.

"Sakura-!" Naruto shouted as ANBU appeared and led him out to make sure he didn't contract it.

The world teetered on it's axis, Sakura's large forehead became clammy and Naruto's voice started to play in her mind, mixed in with others.

_'I HATE YOU AND NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!'_

_'Sakura, I'm sorry.'_

_'Was I the one that drove you to leave Naruto-kun?'_

_'Glad to have you back.'_

_'I came to terms with it.'_

_'I HATE YOU AND NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!'_

Sakura started to hyperventilate, and her eyes rolled back as she collapsed to the ground, medics trying to catch her safely.

She blacked out as Hinata's heart flat lined.

* * *

:OOOO

omg-wat-is-going-on-holy-lowdy, yep, is hinata dead? i myself have no idea

i had to really edit this chapter to make it run smoother, but im still not satisfied :/

and dont forget to leave a review for one most epic chapter


	10. Karma

Echo Uchiha, if its been like a month or so and i havn't worked on full dark then ill think about giving it away lol

other persons, ok lols

with that being said...

naruto does not belong to lolasbunnyroo

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Ten**

**"Karma"**

**

* * *

**_Hinata Hyuuga sat eagerly in her seat. Her pearl eyes tuned to a young hyperactive blond. Said person, Naruto Uzumaki, was nearly falling out of his seat._

_"I hope Sakura-chan is on my team!" He declared. The young ninja's in training were finally graduating. The pink haired girl snorted._

_"I hope not. Your repulsive!" She said and Naruto only winced. Hinata was envious of the girl. She had the attention of Naruto-kun, something Hinata never could capture._

_"Team Seven, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki-"_

_"WHAT!" Sakura groaned while Naruto cheered._

_"And Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka finished, narrowing his eyes at the interruption._

_"Yay!" Sakura cheered and the Uchiha was as impassive as ever._

_"WHAT!" Ino shouted behind the pinkette, along with Naruto and the two turned to stare at one another. Sakura turned around and stuck her tongue out at Ino. Things clicked into place for Hinata then, Sakura only wanted Sasuke to beat her rival Ino. This angered Hinata, Sakura was the most shallow and vain person she had ever met. _

_She vowed then to beat Sakura to Naruto's heart, no matter what._

Sakura was still knocked out, all she saw was blackness. She heard voices but couldn't make out what they where saying or who they belonged to. Her eyelids slowly slid open and she was lying on her back in a hallway, people surrounded her.

"See, I'll wake her up!" Sai said and slapped Sakura hard across the face, still believing her to be asleep. Sakura involuntarily punched him back and he was thrown towards the ceiling in a yelp. She sat up and Sasuke, Neji, Sai, and Tsunade were surrounding her. People shuffled by in bio-hazard suits awkwardly.

"Whatsa goin on?" She said groggily.

"You fainted from shock after you found out about Hinata having the Pink Syndrome." Tsunade said.

"How long have I been out?" She asked.

"Only a few hours. Naruto is being checked now with his son for the disease as well." Tsunade said. Neji looked at Sakura with guarded eyes.

"OH! Hinata! What happened?" Sakura stood up and everyone around her stood up.

"She's on life support, her heart stopped beating but we managed to defibrillate it back to life. The disease is eating away at her, so far no one else has contracted the disease. We believe the disease mutated inside her as a reaction to her byakuugan." Tsunade explained.

"But, how could she get it?" Sakura said, the disease had been virtually eradicated from the cure.

"That, we have no idea." Tsunade said.

"Well, thanks Tsunade-sama for showing up while I clonked out." Sakura smiled at her old sensei.

"No problem Sakura, I'll talk to you later." She said, implying thickly. Tsunade left to talk with some medics about Hinata's condition.

"Sakura-san, I've known you for a long time, and you've known my cousin for even longer. You two may have your differences, and I understand, but can you please do all that's in your power to save her?" Neji asked. He seemed to be pleading, as much as he could. Sakura smiled softly.

"Don't worry, I will Neji, she has a child to raise and I wouldn't want to take away his mother no matter how much I hate her." Sakura said. Neji blinked in surprise and his eye brows shot up.

"Thank you Sakura-san, you really have become selfless." He bowed and left. Sakura thought this over, in a way it was true. She only kept away from Naruto because he had a family, and saved his son from death in hopes Naruto would forgive her. She had sacrificed her own happyness for others for a long time now.

"So where's Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"This way Ugly." Sai said and started to escort her and Sasuke to where Naruto was being kept.

"Are you really going to save Hinata?" Sasuke asked her.

"I'm going to try my best." Sakura said. "Losing a parent is pretty traumatic and I don't want to wish that on any one." Sakura said.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. On the way to the room, Sakura ran back into Tsunade who gave her vitals on Hinata to inform Naruto about and with the new information she stepped into a large white room. A clock on the wall informed Sakura it was almost three in the morning.

"Dickless!" Sai called. Naruto peeked out from behind a curtain.

"Sai! Teme! Sakura-chan!" He called and stood up. He was still wearing his regular close but Sakura noticed a large bandage patch on his arm, indicating where he was stabbed with a needle.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry about Hinata." Sakura said. Naruto's eyes softened. There was a whimpering and Sakura looked over at a small crib. Little-Naruto was resting inside on his back. Sasuke walked over the the baby with Sai and the two started to poke it and Sai even held the baby. It was the strangest sight Sakura had ever seen.

"Sakura-chan, I've decided to name you and Sasuke-teme as his god parents!" Naruto beamed, side stepping her earlier statement.

"That's great." She replied lamely. Awkwardness settled around them for the briefest of moments as the two watched Sai make Little-Naruto fake punch Sasuke.

"They say Hinata has a twenty percent chance of survival." Naruto said quietly. Sakura wanted to reach out and hug Naruto closely, make all of his fear fade away.

"I'll save her Naruto, promise." Sakura vowed. Naruto looked at her with shocked eyes.

"But, she..." He trailed of and Sakura got the gist of what he was implying.

"I know, but forgive and forget, ya know?" Sakura smiled sadly.

"I just, don't understand how she could have gotten sick." Naruto buried his head in his hands. Sakura felt sympathy for him, it was understandable. It was virtually impossible for Hinata to catch the Syndrome. She had heard in her exile of those who where afflicted from divine intervention, penance for their acts on others and their own corruption. Sakura took a sharp intake of breath then. No one knew why Taro invented the disease, but it was kind of like Sakura's own suffering. She had left Konoha in pain, and left that behind for others to suffer, her friends, her family, and Naruto. Some say the whole village was affected. Maybe it was coincidence that when Sakura forgave those who had wronged her the disease was wiped out and disappeared of the face of the planet. The cure her own salvation.

So now, Hinata was suffering, dying from the inside out. Hinata's own pride much different than Sakura's. No one else had contracted the new disease, and no one ever would. Call it karma for Hinata's actions, her own guilt eating at her body while she rejected it mentally and spiritually. The only way for Hinata to be saved was for her to admit her own sins and come clean to Sakura about her criminality, and that was impossible since Hinata was currently half alive.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto shook her shoulder gently. Sakura shook her head and blinked a few times.

"Sorry, lost in thought." She mumbled.

"Do you think Little-Naruto is as dickless as his father?" Sakura heard Sai ask. Sasuke made a funny face.

"I really don't want to know." He said.

_Naruto was sitting in the fetal position on his couch hugging a pillow, tears gushing down his face. Hinata hadn't seen him cry like this since Jiraiya died. It had only been a few days since Naruto dumped Sakura._

_"Naruto-kun, it will be okay." Hinata put her hand on his shoulder._

_"She, she said she didn't, then..." He babbled on and on like this for a while._

_"I'm here Naruto-kun, I'll make it better, okay?" Hinata smiled and kissed his tear stained cheek. Naruto did nothing, he barely even moved, as if he didn't register what happened. He fell asleep an hour or so later and Hinata went through his apartment, clearing out any reminder of Sakura. Pictures, gifts, Hinata even found a articles of her clothing and shuddered at any thought of the two being intimate. She threw them away in a garbage pail outside his apartment complex, practically skipping her way back. _

So, Sakura hadn't slept for a few days now. You'd understand why she gave the head of accounting a roundhouse kick to the face when he insisted they take Hinata off life support because she was draining their funds.

Said accountant was lodged into the roof, his legs flailing around wildly.

"SAKURA! YOU CANNOT ROUNDHOUSE KICK YOUR EMPLOYEES FACE'S!" Tsunade roared. Sakura ripped at her hair in the stress.

"Well, accountant, what did you learn?" Sakura threw back at him. He mumbled something unintelligible and a few medics started to tug at his legs. Hopefully this act would earn Sakura some respect since most of the doctors where older than her and treated her like a kid.

"Look, I have to go deal with Hinata." She said.

"Oh, yes, what have you decided to do with her condition?" Tsunade asked and led her out into the hallway. Sakura yawned and pinched herself on the arm to give her a small jolt.

"If she does not start to recover withing the week then we pull the plug. Her liver and lungs are failing, her heart did fail, and her stomach is starting to fail. The disease is attacking any and every organ. The only one that has not been hit is her brain." Sakura explained.

"So she's on life support?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, and it's draining the hospital. We have others who need care but aren't getting it because of her, and the Hyuuga clan is threatening to sue if we pull the plug." Sakura sighed. She remembered her promise to Neji, how could she ever look him in the eye if Hinata died?

"You're justified if you do. Here's a great lawyer if need be." Tsunade pulled out a small paper business card and slipped it in Sakura's coat pocket. Sakura departed with Tsunade and entered Hinata's room. She declined wearing the bio hazard suite, she'd be more than safe. Some one above was looking out for her now.

Hinata's skin was paper white and almost translucent, her bones stuck out where visible, the hospital gown she wore seemed to fan out around her like an ocean, her purple hair stuck to her skin and clumped together with sweat. She looked delicate, and reminded Sakura of a skeleton. She was hooked up to various machines around her, tubes running this way and that, and her breath fogged a breathing apparatus just barely.

"Hinata, it's me, Sakura. I promised your cousin Neji I'd save you. But your going to have to confront some daemons. I don't believe any medical treatment could save you." Sakura murmured. Hinata stayed as still as a corpse.

"This is going to sound really stupid, but I believe the disease mutated inside you because of the sins you committed towards me, and your conscious is trying to make you atone for it, but your pride wont let you, so your dying because of it." Sakura said with shaky breath. "I had a similar problem, but instead of just killing me, it destroyed everyone around me as well. And I want you to know, I forgive you Hinata." Sakura said slowly so her voice wouldn't shake and she'd take it back.

She stared at Hinata for a while, expecting Hinata to wake up then and accept her forgiveness, but nothing changed. Sakura patted Hinata on her skeletal hand and turned to leave. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small tear roll down Hinata's face, but decided it was just the trick of the light.

_Hinata watched as Sakura, Naruto, and Sauke wiped out Madara and the remains of the Akatsuki. This would truly mark the end of the war._

_She ran over to Naruto, the most damaged from his fight with Sasuke, and bent down next to him. Sakura was over him, healing his worst gashes. Tears where rolling down Sakura's face and Sasuke stood over his two former team mates blinking through his blindness. _

_"N-naruto, please wake up! Please!" Sakura sobbed through her healing technique. Hinata would barely hear Naruto's heart beat. "Please! I love you Naruto!" She choked out roughly. One of her tears ran down her face and landed on Naruto's forehead. He blinked awake and stared at Sakura, completely ignoring the Hyuuga and Uchiha._

_"Sakura-chan..." He whispered in wonder. Hinata balled her fists, she had confessed her love for Naruto and he didn't even give her the time of day afterward._

_She had done evil things, wished evil thoughts and so she must have become what she had hoped her whole life for. Her own guilt eating her alive._

_'I forgive you.' Sakura's voice reached Hinata down in the dark place Hinata was curled up in._

_'How can you just forgive me after what I've done to you? You must be lying, stop trying to trick me!' Hinata yelled, but she found she could not move, a pressure seemed to cover her thickly._

_'I forgive you.' Her voice repeated. Hinata just shook her head and left out a scream. Instead, black liquid oozed out of her mouth in rivers and she held her neck, helplessly. _

_'I'm so sorry, Sakura.' Hinata thought as she felt all she had drain away. 'But I can't believe you.' And a small tear ran down her face._

Moegi held her hands over the large fish. The fish's sides where pounding up and down, its eyes darting wildly. Moegi performed the medical jutsu with out a hitch and was concentrating on keeping the fish alive.

"Pretty good." Sakura observed. Moegi's concentration slipped as she looked at her sensei and she fell forward and almost crushed the fish.

"Ah! Oh no!" Moegi gasped. Sakura grabbed the fish and slipped it back into the near by tank. The fish gulped in it's under water home and raced around.

"You need to work on your concentration and the ability to multitask. Once you got that under your belt we'll begin chakra control and super strength." Sakura nodded.

"Super strength! Great! My taijutsu is pitiful." Moegi pouted.

"Thought so. Not after my training. Come back to my office tomorrow." Sakura ordered and her young apprentice left. She sat down wearily in her desk chair, she only had a few hours of sleep. She closed her eyes and dozed off.

In her dream, she was floating along in a light pink sky. Bubbles bounced around her and she had a tickling sensation in her belly. It was bliss, one rare moment, even if it was fake.

What seemed like seconds later, her door was thrown open. The disheveled Ino stood in the door way, in the window, the sun was well below the horizon and night dominated the sky line. Sakura cursed, she had been asleep all day.

"What is it?" Sakura yawned.

"It's Hinata! The disease is attacking her brain and she's having a heart attack!" Ino gasped. Sakura flew out of her seat and down the hall into Hinata's room by heart. It would be just like Hinata to start to die the day the deadline was due for her being on life support. Tsunade was absent, off on her retirement no less. Sakura placed her hands over Hinata and performed a medical jutsu. Her heart ceased it's erratic beating.

"Her brain is failing. If she goes unconscious she could become mentally retarded from the lack of oxygen." A doctor said. Sakura wanted to snap at him, of coarse Sakura knew that.

"Ino, I could always resurrect her if she dies." Sakura murmured, remembering the dying Chiyo.

"Sakura, no! Is she worth dying for?" Ino pleaded. Sakura also remembered one other time she thought of doing this, after Naruto's fight with Sasuke, she believed him to be dead and was seconds away from sacrificing herself for him. But he woke up. Sakura shook her head, she had promised Tsunade that she would never perform it, but she also promised Neji she'd do her best to save Hinata.

"I can't save her if she doesn't want to be saved." Sakura murmured to her self.

"What?" Ino demanded, working with other medics to keep Hinata's brain stable.

"Hinata, wake up! Wake up! You have a son to take care of!" Sakura said to the unconscious Hinata. Hinata's eyes creaked open and locked eyes with Sakura for the briefest moments, then shut once more.

"Sakura...thank you..." Hinata breathed, her voice low and scratchy. The whole room was still and staring at Hinata with wide eyes. Thank you. Those words. Would they ever leave Sakura's life alone?

Hinata's heart gave a pitiful flop and was still. Her breathing ceased and a black liquid, blood, seeped out of her mouth, she seemed to turn to stone at the spot. Sakura drew back her hands after Ino rest her hands on her wrists.

"Your welcome." Sakura said back and her stomach lurched. She never in her life believed she would see the dead body of Hinata. "Ino, your in charge until I get back." She whispered as she backed out of the room slowly.

"Where are you going?" Ino turned to her. Sakura stood still in the door way, ripping her eyes away from the scene. "Sakura?" Ino asked. Sakura bolted down the hallway. "Sakura!" Ino called.

Sakura shed her doctor's coat and barreled past those in the hall way who threw themselves out of the way. Using her momentum she launched herself out of an open window and scaled down the building quickly with out breaking a sweat. She landed on the ground and those below gaped her feet. She kept running through the city, kids gasping as she went along claiming that's what they would do when they where older.

'Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.'

Hinata's voice whispered inside her head.

'Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.'

Now its was screaming and her skin crawled.

'THANK YOU. THANK YOU. **THANK YOU.' **

Her voice bellowed out in Sakura's head and she skidded to a stop and held her hands to her ears. She looked around and noticed she was standing outside the Hokage tower. She scaled the building, tears rolling down her face and she stopped outside a set of familiar windows. She knocked on the window and slipped in.

Nartuo was making a house of cards on his desk and humming to himself.

"Sakura-chan? What's wrong?" He demanded as he saw her fragile state.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry." She said in a shaky voice. She walked toward him pitifully and hugged him. He jumped back in surprise, not knowing what to do, he wanted to hug her back but wasn't sure if she would then punch him in the face. Sakura felt helpless, if she couldn't save Hinata then who could she save? "She didn't want to be saved." She said out loud in a dumb whisper.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, still lost. He bumped into his desk and the house of cards collapsed, the cards drifting along, an ace of spades landing at Sakura's feet. She bent down and picked it up. The death card.

"Hinata. She's dead." Sakura whispered, folding the card in two. Naruto was still and blinked slowly.

"What?" He said.

"Her condition finally failed." Sakura said with a shaky voice. Naruto sat down slowly and just stared at his feet for a while.

"When?" He said after a long pause.

"Just now, less than ten minutes ago." Sakura said, her stomach felt empty, as if she just threw up. Fear at Naruto's action's rose inside her and he stood up.

"Take me to the hospital please." He said.

The two made their way silently to the hospital, taking the front entrance, the secretary staring wildly after Sakura because she had not seen her go in. They walked down the streets, people occasionally shaking hands with Naruto and he returned them with a dead patience. They arrived at the hospital thirty minutes later and Naruto entered the room Hinata was still in. Sakura stood in the hall way and motioned for all of the medics inside to leave.

She shut the door, giving Naruto his private time to say goodbye. Ino stood next to Sakura who sat down slowly, her exhaustion catching up with her.

"Sakura, you did your best. She was basically already dead by the time she actually did die. She was living on borrowed time." Ino explained. Sakura stared at the wall, her face still wet from her tears, black circles returning under her eyes.

"Yeah. But could something else could have been done?" Sakura asked.

"No. Even if you killed yourself for her, she would never feel remorse for the action, no sympathy. For the past ten years Hinata became the polar opposite of what she was. She was pure but once you started dating Naruto, she became twisted. Even I noticed it, her chakra changed just slightly." Ino explained. "It may not have been obvious and she may have stayed kind, but by her praying for your relationship to end with Naruto, that one drop of darkness festered within her and ate her alive." Ino finished.

Sakura stared at her friend, in awe of how Ino could have noticed this from afar.

"Miss Haruno! The Hiashi, Hanabi, and Neji Hyuuga are here!" Her secretary skidded down the hallway. Right behind him where the three Hyuuga's. Hiashi stared at Sakura sternly.

"Haruno-san, as you know, our clan has thoughts of filing a legal action against the hospital for pulling the plug on her with out our consent." Hiashi said. Sakura wanted so bad to pund this guy's face in, make it concave.

"Sorry Hyuuga-san, she died while still on life support." Sakura smiled back pleasantly despite feeling rotten.

"Well, I'll have to think that over." He said and turned on his heel to leave.

'Jack ass, doesn't even stay to say goodbye to his own kid.' Sakura immediately thought.

"Haruno-san, I heard you where training Moegi. Good luck." Hanabi said with thick formality.

"Okay, once I'm done with Moegi, she'll mop the floor with you." Sakura threw back, not really in the mood to deal with the female version of Sasuke. Neji steered Hanabi away then and turned to the pinkette.

"Sakura-san, did you try to uphold your promise?" Neji asked.

"Yes, I did my best, feel free to chat with Ino if you want. But she still failed. I personally believe nothing could have saved her." Sakura said slowly. Neji nodded.

"Thank you, I believe you." Neji bowed and left with Hanabi.

The door to Hinata's room opened and Naruto walked out, he looked haggard and crestfallen. He looked down at Sakura and smiled sadly.

"Thanks for telling me Sakura-chan." He murmured and left. Morticians arrived and pronounced Hinata dead. Sakura entered the room as she was being zipped away in a body bag to be taken to the morgue. From there the family would have to claim her and take her to their compound for the funeral. She signed the death certificate as if she was chiseling it in stone.

* * *

whew

naruhina fans...pls pls pls pls pls pls pls PLS dont be mad D: i was originally gonna have hinata live, then i was gonna have sakura sacrifice her self, but i ultimately decided it would be better for the message of the story is she ended up dying, making her the opposite of Sakura (and sakura's decisions) cause i believe thats a problem alot of people have, the ability to forgive and people to believe them, and it literally kills us inside

im going to be afraid to open up my mail tomorrow morning now from possible flames ill get...

story's almost at a close :( and just b/c hinata is dead does not guarantee that it will end narusaku ;)

next chapter will deal with the funeral fer sure

review now maybe? pls?


	11. Burying Our Shame

took me an actual long time to write this (kept running into writers block, which normally doesnt happen to me lol)

naruhina fans, thanks for not totally flaming this story as i predicted :D *knocks on wood*

lolasbunnyroo had confirmed with her lawyers she stands at no position to gain profit or notoriety from the nayrooto franchise

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Eleven**

**"Burying our Shame"**

**

* * *

**Sakura was watching Little-Naruto. She was crouched down, her chin on her knees and arms wrapped around her legs hugged to her chest.

Outside, rain splashed lightly in the mind winter season. Little-Naruto was laying on his back, almost twelve months old now, and he was staring at a mobile that was spinning around in circles above his head to the tune of a lullaby. He held out his hands and seemed to be waving at them. Sakura moved to the window for a brief moment, outside in the streets, pedestrians where clad in black and moving this way and that to Hinata's funeral.

It was almost a month later, the clan had even tried to sue, but of coarse, Sakura won. Just what she needed, a punch in the gut from the family of the girl she failed to save. The details of Hinata's condition at the time leaked out and everyone was fearful they'd catch the new disease. Sakura scoured the entire village and didn't find one spec of bacteria containing the original Pink Syndrome or the new version.

Sakura turned her attention back to Naruto's baby who was staring at her. It creeped her out just a little, how he could look so wise about the situation he was born into.

Well, Sakura of coarse had not been invited to the funeral. She sensed some animosity towards her from the Hyuuga's, all except Neji who believed she tried her best to save Hinata. Sakura rooted through her drawers and pulled out a small silver oval locket. She popped it open and a picture of Hinata stared back at her. She walked over to Little-Naruto and laid down next to him. He made a gurgle as he registered her.

"I was going to give this you once you where old enough not to choke on it, but you can see it now." Sakura said and held the locket over his eyes. He reached out to it and grasped the locket with his chubby hands and kicked his legs up as he put the locket in his mouth. Sakura chuckled and took it out and placed it back in her drawer.

**A**cross the village, a large gathering was being held in the Hyuuga clan cemetery. A woman with purple hair rest inside a glass coffin decorated with leaves at it's side and delicate spirals. She did not look sickly, she looked healthy, as if she was about to open her eyes and step out of the coffin. The entire village seemed to be assembled in the tiny square. Naruto sat in the front as the priest gave his sermon.

No matter how much the village hated Hinata for her actions against Sakura, they all seemed to be genuinely sad that she was gone. Maybe they where ashamed of the gossip they spread and the mutual hate they spewed.

Rain fell from the thick gray sky, but did not touch Hinata. It was like the day the Third was buried, even the heavens where ashamed, even they too mourned for her early entry to their ranks.

The lid to the coffin slid shut with a finality, and it was lowered into the ground. It was see through, so she would be caught in the earth, caught in hell.

Dirt splashed on her coffin until the hole was filled completely. White roses where left one by one on her tomb, her gravestone read :

'Hinata Hyuuga-Uzumaki

Wife and Mother

Taken before her time.'

Naruto made his way back to the Hokage tower in a daze, people would look at him with sorrowful eyes, the same look they bestowed upon the lonely Sakura, and tell them they where sorry for his loss. He holed himself up in his office, to frightened to go home to an empty house. The day Hinata died he hated her with all of his might for her ripping him apart from Sakura, now he was grieving. Was it his fault that Hinata died? Did his scorn cause her attack?

There was a knock at the door and then it flew open. Tsunade walked in with Sasuke and looked around. Sasuke had not been at the funeral, even though he was invited.

"Naruto, come out from under the desk." Tsunade barked. Naruto's blond head peeked out from under the desk.

"Go away Tsunade-sama. I order you as the Hokage." He mumbled. Tsunade ignored his words and stepped over to the desk with wide steps. She easily pulled it back and Naruto was scrunched up in a ball under it.

"Naruto, you have a village to run, and a son to look after." Tsunade tapped her foot impatiently.

"Sakura-chan has Little-Me." He mumbled. Tsunade exchanged a confused glance with Sasuke.

"Naruto, Hinata's death is not your fault. She was bound to die some time, her body had been weekend by giving birth, thus leading to her contracting the disease and it mutated as a reaction to her byakugan. Talk to Sakura about it, she'll give you a whole speech about Hinata dying from her moral actions. Which is pretty damn deep." Tsunade said.

"Shouldn't you be in retirement getting drunk?" Naruto frowned and stood up.

"Yes dammit, I should. But you brats can't seem to get it together." Tsunade sighed.

"Dobe, what are you going to do about Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to be with anyone right now. Or at all." Naruto grumbled.

"I can understand now and for a few months, but not at all? Naruto, that's not a way to live your life, especially if you still love Sakura and she loves you. Don't throw it all away after all you two have been through to admit your feelings." Tsunade said gently.

"Your one to talk Tsunade-sama, look at you. Your boyfriend died and you ran away. And you haven't been with any one else since. Hypocrite." Naruto sneered from some deep dark place within in. Sasuke's mouth popped open and Tsunade looked livid.

"My own problems are and where nothing compared to yours, Naruto. My 'boyfriend' was the love of my life, not some bimbo I shacked up with after I pushed away the love of my life like you. And you know what, Sakura loved you so much and wanted you to be happy so much, she up and left her home so you could be happy with Hinata without her being there and you feeling sorry for her. She was willing to sacrifice herself for you to bring back Hinata. And your just sitting here feeling sorry for yourself? I never thought I'd have to tell you to grow up." Tsunade said with a hard voice.

Naruto was still and lost in thought.

"Don't you think I've hurt her enough?" He said.

"That's up to her to decide." Tsunade said quietly. The door opened again and Sakura stood in the door way holding Little-Naruto.

"Uhm, Naruto, my time watching your kid is done. You weren't at your house and I heard its bad to leave kids alone." She said, oblivious to the previous conversation.

_Line Break_

Sakura dared to show her face later that week. It was a rare sunny day, a chill wind occasionally sweeping through. She stepped out ready to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible_. _She was walking through the market place and noticed a few people looking at her funny. Most of the people barely registered her, going about their business, others still gawked at her, but every once and a while she'd see a few villagers giving her funny looks.

A mix between scorn and the guilty look of those who gossip.

She walked into a tea shop, people where bound to gossip. She stood in line for a while, deciding what goodies to get and she'd go to the park, sit out on a bench and eat.

"Welcome to-oh. You. Sorry, we where told not to serve you." The woman at the counter said to Sakura, a hard look forming on her face. She obviously had not heard of Sakura's fierce temper.

"Why?" Sakura frowned. She looked around and noticed the high amounts of Hyuuga's in the shop, some even glaring at her. Then it dawned on her, this shop must have been owned by the Hyuuga clan, and they where trying to get her upset for not saving Hinata. So they where going to discriminate against her? Well Sakura could play this game to.

"Because of what you did." The girl smirked. She wasn't a Hyuuga but thought high of herself. Sakura smiled sweetly back, and clocked the girl in the face. The girl did a sort of pirouette before stepping back and falling down.

"Oh that? Yeah, my bad." Sakura said and marched out with her head high. She was shaking with rage by the time she got out into the streets and took a few deep breaths. Her hunger was gone and replaced with searing anger. She wasn't about to go wining to Naruto or Tsunade, but she felt as if she had been slapped in the face, when she had tried with all her might to save Hinata. She traveled to Ino's flower shop her parents ran. An idea was forming in her mind. She bought a large bouquet of white flowers and took off to Hinata's grave.

She was buried in the Hyuuga district and Sakura was the last person to ever be invited there. But hey, she was freakin ninja after all. She easily hid her chakra and transformed herself into a generic Hyuuga, pale face and eyes with dark hair. She wore peasant close so some one would just assume her as a maid or servant. She slipped into the compound and the guards didn't look twice at her. The flowers were disguised as well as a basket full of close.

The graveyard was far off tucked into a corner. It was deserted now after the funeral and she easily found Hinata's grave. It was the freshest and had a glossy black tombstone, those around it where extravagant and a large angel stared up at the sky from one, it's wings stretched out majestically. Another was the grim reaper with it's arms stretched out to her, a hood covering it's skeletal face and it's scythe looming grimly over it's head.

Hinata was buried next to Hizashi, Neji's father. Sakura was glad she was born into a civilian clan with only her mother and father still alive. What families did to one another could not even amount to what an enemy could do to a person. The Uchiha and Hyuuga clan prime examples.

"Hello, Hinata-san. It's me Sakura. Naruto is still depressed about your death, your son is doing well. I gave him a locket with your picture in it. One day I'll tell him about you and what a great person you where, a strong kunoichi with a determination that could shake mountains, all to prove yourself as some one worthy as an equal to even Neji Hyuuga." Sakura smiled and laid the flowers on the grave. She took one and placed it on Hizashi's grave, it looked lonely. She glanced at the other two graves, the one with the grim reaper trying to reach out and snag her soul.

"Not today, sir. Not yet." Sakura smiled at it and left.

**N**aruto looked out at the village, Little-Naruto at the Hyuuga's. Hiashi was speaking about training to child and was excited to see what kind of shinobi he would turn out to be, being both a Hyuuga and related to Naruto whose family where extremely talented . Naruto really didn't want his son to become a ninja. Sure, it looked glamorous, but a true ninja could show no emotion and die for their village. Dying for your home seemed honorable, it was, but a ninja was a coward.

Not smart enough to do something great, like a scientist, a writer, a philosopher. All they could do was kill, not save. Naruto hoped for a time where there wouldn't be any ninja's, kunai's and shurikens scrapped and turned into something for peace.

So no one would have to die for nothing.

**S**akura flipped through the catalog searching for an apartment. She decided on one closer to the hospital, since it seemed she was always running back and forth from the hospital and here. Ino and Tenten where helping her pick, Tenten still lived with her parents since she was ANBU and her own life uncertain if she would ever return from a mission. Ino lived at home still too in exchanged she paid for rent and helped at the store whenever possible.

"So, I'm going to be the only one that has my own house?" Sakura laughed. Tenten wasn't really looking for houses for Sakura, more like wondering out loud if Neji would like the house too, which gave Sakura the impression she had wedding fever.

"Speaking of Hyuuga's, your over there all the time, what's the general idea they have of Sakura now?" Ino asked and Sakura was ten seconds away from automatically saying ew.

"Well, Hiashi respects you, with you being a Sannin and the strongest Kunoichi, but alot of them hold this view that you deliberately killed Hinata or didn't try to save her because you wanted Naruto. Neji really tears into any one though who speaks bad about you." Tenten explained.

"I figured that when I was kicked out of their stupid restaurant." Sakura mumbled and flipped the page of her magazine.

"Well, I think, if you wanted Naruto you would have already made your move, and so does some of the other Hyuuga's." Tenten shrugged.

"Naruto's depressed, ever since Hinata died he doesn't even look at porn books with Kakashi-sensei or do his stupid Sexy Jutsu." Ino said. "And even if she wanted Naruto, he wouldn't want her...at the moment." Ino added.

"I'm right here you two." Sakura growled.

"Oh! Look at this house! It has a wrap around balcony!" Tenten gawked at a house.

_Line Break_

Naruto knew loss, he grew up virtually hated and took his border line death to win the hearts and minds of the villagers. He grew up an orphan and loss one of his best friends, only to later get him back and then lose Sakura later from his own illusions. Now he had lost his wife and had a son to raise by himself. For a few months he was trapped in his own guilt and realized he would self destruct if he held onto it. He took the steps of grieving and the moment he knew he would be okay was a somber one.

He was taking a walk in the park in disguise, not in the mood for people to run up to him and shake his hand roughly. There was a thick patch of woods and he sat down at a bench under a dogwood tree. A raven soared about his head and landed on a tree branch, it cawed it's death call and shook it's black feathers. The raven looked at Naruto for a short period of time and left. In it's place a pure white dove landed and started to coo.

Naruto felt peace settle inside his gut and he left go of his own morning. Hinata was in a better place after all, she would no longer suffer, and in death she may meet all those that had passed before her she would never have meet in the real world. He had a kid to raise, and a village to lead. It's time he shoulder his own problems and become a leader once again.

He returned to his office buoyant and inhaled a cup of ramen. His secretary was happy that he was once again returning to his normal ways. It had been three months since Hinata's funeral, he hadn't even visited her grave, and he probably never would. It would just bring back all of his sadness. He wondered how Sakura was doing, he heard she had moved out of her parents home into a lavish two story apartment by the hospital in the ritzy side of town. He still felt emotionally drained from loosing Hinata, all he wanted was some one to hug him and give him a bowl of ramen.

* * *

ehh see, writers block for this chapter :/

probably only a few more, may four or five until the end so i can progress the story to where i want

thanks for all the reviews ive gotten so far :D make sure to leave some more...


	12. Blame

sorry for the late update :(

you see what happened, i finished it actually two days ago and saved it, then fanfiction DELETED IT, and i was totally

unmotivated to retype it up, but i kicked my ass into it, so, here ya go...

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Twelve**

**"Blame"**

**

* * *

**Sakura sat alone in her now home. It was large and empty, everything was so white. The entire apartment was modern themed, it felt cold and inhuman. Silence pierced her ears and a deep rumbling echoed from no where, as if it could not be absolutely quiet. She felt lonely, she had gradually recovered this year after returning to Konoha, but she felt that same emptiness around her when she had been in exile.

She decided she'd go shopping for furniture tomorrow, soft plushy furniture that indicated the presence of human habitation. She really didn't own much so the "move" had been as simple as packing up her ninja gear, books, and close in one medium sized box and walking across street. She left a few things at home that she didn't need. Her father was excited about turning her room into his own man cave, but Sakura knew her mother would stop him soon enough.

A wall of her living room was comprised of ceiling to floor glass and looked out over down town Konoha. The Hokage Tower loomed in the distance and the mountain's faces glared at her. The hospital was conveniently a stone's throw away and she could see people rushing in and out. She clicked the lights off and stood there for a while, just looking out of her window peacefully. She felt as if the entire world had conspired against her for a long time, that generally happened to people with good intentions, they were dealt a bad hand while those who degraded everyone were handed everything with on a silver platter. But karma eventually brought them down, hard, in flames. Sakura had seen this happen first hand.

She walked to her room and flopped down on her bed, her muscles ached and her eyes were heavy. She easily dozed off to sleep and dreamt of only blackness.

Her alarm blared hours later and she rolled off of her bed. She looked around, confused as to where she was. Then she remembered she had moved. It was four in the morning and she took a quick shower, her body ached and she was half awake as she got ready for work. The morning was gloomy and the sky a dark gray as the sun started to rise. She wasn't paying attention in her footsteps and bumped into some one.

"Oh, sorry." She mumbled without looking up.

"It's okay-Sakura!" A voice said, then gasped. Sakura turned to the voice. Naruto stared at her in the mist. He looked as if he hadn't slept in a few days.

"Naruto? What are you doing up so early?" Sakura asked.

"Couldn't sleep, Little-Naruto kept crying, I just dropped him off at the Hyuuga's." He said. That made sense.

"Oh, how is he?" Sakura asked politely.

"Fine, he hardly ever cries unless he's really upset." Naruto smiled and Sakura felt a long story about his son coming on, she had to make her escape fast. "Anyway, want to go on a walk with me? I was just going to stroll through the park." He said.

"Uhm, I don't know...okay." She gave in, not wanting to see the hurt in his eyes and the false cheer to cover it up. They walked to the park and Naruto chatted on and on about Little-Naruto and how Naruto was a clumsy dad while trying to juggle responsibilities of being the Hokage. He also plunged into a long rant about how he didn't want to hire a nanny. Sakura really wanted to tell him to shut up, frankly she didn't care, but she would feel rotten if she did.

"Enough about me, what about you?" Naruto asked. What about her? Her life had once again blurred by monotonously and she remembered being in a numb state of a constant observer.

"I finally moved out of my parent's, and my apprentice Moegi has really grown, while Ino on the other hand has hit a road block." Sakura said.

"I heard about your move, you should have a house party." Naruto nodded. Sakura thought about this, she had more than enough space, and the walls were sound proof so the neighbors wouldn't mind. But there was one little problem.

"Can't, everything is white in my house. It will get stained." Sakura said.

"Oh no, stained. The end of the world." Naruto rolled his eyes and Sakura playfully shoved him.

"Alright, I'll throw a party, but no matter how wild it get's the ANBU can't break it up." Sakura said.

"How wild are you thinking?" He furrowed his brow. The two shook hands on it and Sakura actually felt pure joy for once, not smoothed over with potential gloom. They sat down on the grass which was wet from the morning dew. The sun was peeking over the horizon and the morning gloom still hung heavily in the air. Sakura was reminded of long ago when the two went on their first date together here, a walk through the park. It had been summer not early spring and everything had been simple.

"Wild enough. So how are things as Hokage?" Sakura asked.

"Okay, no real threats to Konoha since Akatsuki was destroyed. The city started building our memorial but a bunch of the workers are on strike. The Sand is having tensions with the Rock nation over trading and are trying to drag us into it, oh and the Sound fell." Naruto added. Sakura was suprised, she had never heard of this.

"When did that happen? And how come it didn't make any news?" Sakura asked.

"Because the Country of Rice covered it up. They were operating with out a leader and they started to get out of hand. They actually elected Sasuke as their Kage but he never showed up and eventually fell." Naruto explained. Sakura thought this over and actually started to laugh. Naruto looked at her quizzically and she had to explain that the thought of Sasuke as a leader was ridiculous, a leader had to be kind, smart, and selfless. Sasuke was only one of the three. Naruto smiled meekly.

"How are things at the hospital?" Naruto asked.

"Okay, we're getting sued again, but not by the Hyuuga's. Some civilian clan that's accusing a doctor of malpractice." Sakura rolled her eyes. She hadn't been pulled into it yet but was expected at the hearing to defend the doctor. Awkwardness settled around them for a moment and Sakura was itching to bring up Hinata but felt it to be taboo. Naruto on the other hand was waiting for her to bring it up, not wanting to seem eager to discuss his dead wife and prospects of moving on.

"So...what about us?" Naruto asked.

"Us? There is no us Naruto." Sakura shook her head. 'Us' for them had died a long time ago.

"I still love you. I think I always will." Naruto said, he seemed depressed about it but was simply stating a fact.

"I will too Naruto. Don't doubt that." She said and pulled out her necklace he had given her. "Take this back, I can't accept it." She held it out to him. Naruto looked dumbfounded.

"But that's yours Sakura-chan." He objected and stood up.

"No. Take-it." She said and stood up after him.

"I don't want it!" He said and started to back away.

"You will take it!" She yelled and started to chase him. They ran through a field in the park and dodged around trees easily, Naruto laughing and whooping, a smile stretched across Sakura's lips and she actually laughed. Naruto tripped and went tumbling down a hill. Sakura slid down the hill after him and rolled expertly, landing on Naruto's back and his face was buried in the grass. She sat on top of him and held the necklace over his nose.

"Take it!" She ordered. He pushed her off of him and jumped on his feet.

"Wait-!" He said and ducked out of the way of one of her deadly punches. "Sakura-chan! Do you know where we are?" He said breathlessly as she tried to upper cut him.

"A hill?" She shrugged and tried to kick him. He grabbed the back of her heel and flipped her over. She landed on her back and was about to jump back up but looked around. It looked oddly familiar and a cherry blossom tree stood near by, its buds on the eve of blooming. Naruto was a few feet away from her, his face soft.

"This is where we had our first kiss." He whispered. The sun finally broke over the horizon and an elderly couple strolled by with their dog. They didn't pay attention to the fact that the Hokage was standing over the head of the hospital who was on her back in the middle of a park, and where soon gone. Recognition dawned on Sakura then and she sat up, she searched the grass and picked the necklace back up before placing it back in her pocket.

"What time is it?" She asked then, forgetting all about her duties at the hospital.

"I dunno, probably almost six, maybe seven." Naruto shrugged. She bolted up and charged past Naruto, intent on getting to the hospital. Naruto grabbed her by her wrist and spun her around.

"No way, your not escaping this. What are you thinking?" He asked calmly.

"That I'm late!" Sakura tried to weasel her way out of his grip, but it was clamped tightly on. Naruto shook his head and repeated the question. "Alright Naruto, I'm thinking that the mother of your child and your wife died only three months ago and your already thinking about hooking up with me!" Sakura said, deeply disturbed by his train of thought.

"I know that Sakura-chan. Every morning when I wake up alone with a crying baby I know Hinata is dead. I would have eventually left her anyway if she lived." Naruto said and released her.

"Some deep selfish voice inside of me wants to say yes, and be with you. But it just doesn't feel right, not that I don't love you, but I would constantly be reminded of Hinata." Sakura said, her heart racing and her stomach felt empty.

"Hinata's not here Sakura-chan. She destroyed herself. You tried to save her selflessly, and she still died." Naruto argued.

"Just...not right now Naruto." Sakura shook her head. He needed time still to move on, that much was obvious. He was in the angry phase of moving on, not blaming himself for Hinata's death anymore, but blaming her for dying.

Sakura made her way to the hospital, trying to get over her crummy morning. One good thing about being the head cheese in charge was that no one really cared if you where late. She entered her office after shaking off the head accountant who was on her case again, and was surprised to see a certain blond haired kunoichi there. Tsunade was sitting at Sakura's chair and going through her files.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura blinked.

"Do you know how long I've been waiting? It's a good thing I'm retired and have nothing to do, or I would skin you." Tsunade crossed her arms.

"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked. Tsunade spun around in the chair once and stood up. A piece of paper was in her hand and she held it out. Sakura took it delicately because it looked extremely tattered and old.

"This was found hidden under Taro's bed in his old holding cell. A crew was cleaning it for a new inmate and found it. Your name is on it." Tsunade said. She had an odd look on her face.

"Did you read this?" Sakura asked. Tsunade winced guiltily.

"Maybe. Well, the crew read it to, and the judge, who passed it on to me. You should do something about your private life, everyone seems to know about it." Tsunade said and left before Sakura could react. Her name was written on it in a blotchy pen, Taro's handwriting surprisingly neat. She slipped it in her shorts pocket, not really in the mood for another downer or stress causer.

"Miss Haruno! I need to speak with you!" The Head of Accounting said behind her door.

"Go away you nerd!" Sakura yelled and started to bang her head on her desk.

_Line Break_

Naruto was sitting in his office chair lazily. He was filling out paper work numbly, then the thoughts he was trying to keep away crept up on him. He tensed up and slowly put down his pencil. He sat staring at the desk for a while, and quickly stood up, banging his knees against the desk and flipping the chair over, then shoved all of the papers off and flipped the desk over. He kicked the desk and shoved a book case over. He stared out of the window angrily, and locked eyes with himself, his face carved on the Hokage Mountain not far away. A crack ran down his face resembling a tear.

"Sir!" His secretary opened the door in concern then looked at the angry form of Naruto and was gone once again. Moments later, Sasuke appeared and easily pinned down Naruto on the floor by the back of his head like a dog.

"Let go of me, teme!" Naruto growled, his teeth sharpening to points.

"Not until you clam down, dobe." Sasuke said lazily. Naruto's breath was ragged and his chest heaved up and down roughly. His breathing slowed to a calm and he gained back his sanity. "What's wrong?" Sasuke asked after releasing Naruto. Sasuke motioned to the secretary who had been standing in the door way the entire time and she nodded, her eyes wide with fear, then left.

"I just don't know. I'm starting to get angry...at Hinata. I thought I had moved on but I just feel pure hatred for her. How could she just give up? Didn't she want to be a mother to her son?" Naruto shook his head. Sasuke thought this over, not revealing a thing.

"I've learned something in my time, shit happens. You can sit around and dissect every little thing of a situation, or you can just let it go an move on." Sasuke said roughly, like a slap to the face. Naruto even winced.

Sasuke found this whole situation stupid. Naruto was looking to deep into Hinata's death and acting like a child. Maybe Sakura's presence was digging up Naruto's facade he had delicately constructed during her absence and picking out all of the flaws Naruto had picked up from his own paranoia. Turning Naruto back to his purity, but before he could he had to bleach out all the darkness.

Naruto stood up slowly and picked his desk back up. He started to pick up the paperwork and not only did he talk until each one was neatly stacked in place.

"It's going to be a year since Sakura-chan returned in three months." Naruto said, not caring that he knew that.

"Yay, take her out to dinner." Sasuke rolled his eyes. He left after telling Naruto to stop being such a child. Naruto sat in his desk and spun around in his chair, kicking a fallen book. He stared back at himself in the Hokage Mountain, wondering where the crack came from.

He really didn't mind it.

_Line Break_

Moegi charged the dummy and punched it. The dummy flopped back farther than it would have from a regular punch.

"Good Moegi, your actually starting to do it. Make sure to channel your chakra to your fist's more like in the tree climbing and water walking exercise. Soon you'll be able to do it without thinking, and even chakra." Sakura said, bubbling with pride in her student. Moegi beamed, her large pigtails loose and cut short around her face, channeling her inner Tsunade. Sakura was just happy to be wearing a sleeveless shirt for once with out a jacket over it.

Warm weather was making a come back and birds even chirped near by in the training grounds. It was a good few solid months since Sakura's little stroll with Naruto.

"Thanks Sakura-sama! Do you think I'll qualify for chuunin?" Moegi asked.

"Not yet, but your getting close. You still need to refine your healing techniques." Sakura tittered. Moegi was starting to slack in her reading, the young ninja had recently been spotted with Konohamaru, with out Udon.

Moegi's training for the day finished a few hours later shortly after noon. The two had lunch at a tea shop, not the one Sakura was rudely kicked out off. Sakura then made her way home, humming to herself in the spring air. She entered her kitchen, choosing to easily jump it and through it than use the front door, much to the complaint to her old stuffy neighbors who didn't like her "ninja antics".

She flopped down on her soft couch and melted into it slowly. She heard a movement in the bathroom and bolted up. She leaned over in the door way and saw a bottle of shampoo roll out of the door way. She crept towards it slowly and clenched a fist, her punched much more deadly than any knife. She entered the large bathroom and looked over in her shower.

"SURPRISE!" A group of voices yelled. Sakura jumped back and recognized her friends, thankful then she had let go of her punch.

"What's going on? It's not my birthday, is it?" Sakura furrowed her brow. Ino, Sai, Sasuke (who had remained silent), Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, almost everyone was packed in. They spilled out of her bathroom and into her living room. Naruto poked his head out from her kitchen sink, his mischievous smile painted across is face.

"I'm surprised you didn't notice me." He said and the door flew open. Choji and Shikamaru walked in with two large cakes and sat them down on her table. The group of ninja's assembled around them and each demanded the first piece. Sakura found this an odd scene.

"Where celebrating your return, your birthday, and your new home all in one! It was Ino's idea." Tenten said. Sakura glowered at her friend and then locked eyes with Naruto, his long gone spark ignited again. She smiled at him, hopefully he was back to normal.

* * *

glugglugglug

the ending was much better the first time around, but again, deletes...

the next chapter will detail the little party and more and will get back to being intense, cause shell read taro's note and be like, da fuck xD

thanks though everyone on the feedback i've been getting :D

make sure to leave some more...:D


	13. Note

hey, sorry, i ment to update this weekend, but got busy, and lost motivation to really write an amazing chapter for you all,

but inspiration once again hit, so, here we are lol

naruto does not belong to this person : lolasbunnyroo

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**"Note"**

**

* * *

**Sakura scrubbed furiously on her couch's cushions. Just as she predicted, Choji decided to have a cake fight with Sai and stained her precious white couch. At the time she had been much, much, much more furious but now she just wanted it out. Naruto actually ended up leaving early for some Hokage duty, and slipped out when no one was paying attention much to Sakura's relief, she didn't want to have to hug him good bye.

She was scrubbing hard now and her knuckles started to ache as she rubbed them raw. She picked up the bottle and flung it. It crashed into the wall and plopped down on the ground, the liquid inside sloshing furiously. She picked up the cushion and flipped it over to reveal a perfect pearly white face. She knew she wasn't agitated at some stupid cushion, but at herself. She was tired of her constant going around and around with Naruto.

She looked out of her wall-window, and slid one of them back. She took out her necklace Naruto had given her long ago, her clan's symbol peeking up at her innocently. She grasped it hard and flung it out across the village. It disappeared below into the streets to be forgotten or picked up by a little kid who could only be entertained by shiny things. When she had reached into her pocket to grab the necklace, something else also fell out. She slid the window shut and picked up a battered piece of paper.

Realization of it's origins hit her, it was Taro's note to her. She picked it up with shaky fingers and sat down at her kitchen table for better light. She unfolded it and it seemed to crumble out before her. She had to squint because Taro's handwriting was so small and cramped.

_Dear Sakura,_

_If you are reading this, then I am dead. I knew you would find me one day, or some one would. The old woman you spoke to in your exile was my mother, a healer, she taught me medical jutsu and I later used it to help create my disease. It truly is something powerful, eh? I created it well, I really don't know exactly. I wanted to create something so powerful and strong, it would eat people alive, to manifest my own sufferings. I succeed. I must applaud you though for discovering how to counter it, I figured you or Tsunade would eventually cure it. I didn't mean for it to get so out of hand, but I could not control it. Patient Zero was an ANBU that stumbled upon my lab one day on a completely different mission, I had no choice but to paralyze him, and ended up accidentally giving him the disease. I think my accent to darkness began when my wife was murdered by rouge ninjas and soon after my children passed away. I never got over it and just became angry at the world. I blamed everyone for my misfortunes and as a result, everyone payed the price._

_Upon arriving in Konoha, I heard my guards gossiping about you and Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage. Gradually I heard the entire situation that happened to you and I thought you must be one bitter person at what he did. Then I saw you in court, you seemed fine, still suffering, but at peace. It takes a great amount of selflessness and guts to swallow your pride and forgive others who have wronged you. I wish now, at my end, I had the power to forgive those ninja's who killed my wife. Many would still be alive. _

_Why am I telling you this? I just want some one, anyone, to know my reasons, my sufferings. I kept these secrets bottled up inside for so long and they ended up devouring my soul. Ironic, huh? Well, I do forgive those who wronged me, and I am sorry for what I have done. I will die for my actions, but now at the end maybe God will spare my suffering in hell, after all, God forgives._

_-Taro_

Sakura leaned away from the note. She looked up and realized she was crying. This man, this murderer, was able to repent, to forgive. He should not have died. Why did everyone have to die? Why did Hinata have to die. She ran her finger's through her hair and realized he to had suffered like her. His own pride and ego reaching out and taking down everyone with him as he went, like how Sakura had dealt with her pain, but she had found a cure. Unfortunately, not everyone does.

She wished then she had her necklace back, but it was lost under the dusty road and others footsteps. She placed the note delicately in an old medical folder in the corner's of her closet, she would probably want to reread it later.

If a murderer could realize his own sins, then there was hope for everyone after all.

_Line Break_

Another week passed and the weather gradually picked up, along with it Sakura's spirits. Sakura grabbed her bag full of medical folders for work and made her way to the hospital. She dumped them on her desk and a piece of paper flew out and landed on the ground.

"Miss Haruno, we need you for the doctor's malpractice hearing in the courtroom." Her secretary leaned into the room before she could pick up the paper. Sakura almost slapped herself in the head, of coarse, how could she just forget about that?

"Oh, alright, let's go." Sakura said, knowing her reputation was on the line if she backed up this guy and he was found guilty, but he was one of the best doctor's the hospital had and the patient's survival rate was ninety to ten. The only way the family could win the suite was if they paid of the board members, or tried to sweet talk her with a generous donation to the hospital.

On the way to the court hearing, she wondered if Naruto had ever been bribed by selfish people who only thought about themselves and not what was right, not how their actions would ripple out and touch everyone's lives. She shrugged off the thought, not really in the mood for an epiphany.

**N**aruto Uzumaki stepped through the window for Sakura's office. It was early in the morning and a little unorthodox for some one to just crawl through windows, but he was in a hurry and all he was going to do was ask her if she would watch Little-Naruto again. His son seemed to like Sakura alot, seeing as how Naruto caught him staring at the old picture of team seven on his dresser and Little-Naruto pointed at Sakura in it.

He looked around the office, it was completely devoid of Sakura's presence. He decided to leave a little note for her and spotted a piece of paper on the ground. That would do. He picked it up and discovered some one had already wrote on it. He squinted to read the text, who ever had wrote it had been in a hurry. His fingers went numb as he read it, and then he read it again, and again. He sat down where he stood, even though there was not chair under him. He read the note so many times, he practically memorized it.

**S**akura tapped in the desk impatiently. The board members, all stuffy old men who probably never worked in a hospital under the stress and demand it called for in a day of their lives, were deliberating. The doctor in question sat next to Sakura and had wide fearful eyes like that of a puppy that had just been caught chewing on his owner's good shoes.

They all sat up straight again, and the head banged his gavel. He cleared his throat and Sakura was reminded of the sound sand paper makes when it's grinded together.

"We have come to our decision," He said, the family that was suing the hospital sat smugly on the other side of the court room, the men fat and old with their young thin wives, "we have decided that the Hospital and it's Doctor's are not responsible for the death of the deceased person. That they in fact tried their best to save him and used all of their knowledge and resources at their disposal. Not Guilty." He smiled kindly and Sakura was immediately remained of her grandfather. The Doctor let out a large breath of exhaled air and many around him cheered and patted his back.

Sakura got up to leave and noticed all of the sour looks from the family. She smiled at them and congratulated the doctor who beamed at her. She made her way outside and noticed the few reporters there asking anyone for a quote. Sakura easily vanished, the perks to being a ninja. She arrived at her office only a few moments later. She stepped through the door and almost fell back. Naruto was sitting on her floor.

"Naruto?" She asked. He looked at her and Sakura noticed the copy of Taro's note she made. She didn't want to ruin it so she made a scan of it. Her stomach dropped and she realized then he must have read it.

"This man, Taro, lost his wife and because he was grieving he ignored his kids and they to died. And he became a killer. What does that say about me?" Naruto asked in a small voice.

"Naruto, your not Taro. You have a good heart. You'll get past Hinata's death." Sakura said and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. She pried the note out of his hands and placed it on her desk. He stood up quickly for his depressed state.

"I'm kind of glad that I've read this though. I convinced myself that I was over Hinata's death, and I wasn't." He said numbly.

"Naruto, can I ask you one more promise?" Sakura asked, her eyes pleading. Naruto looked at her with mild curiosity. "Please, promise me you will get over her death and become the person you used to be." Sakura whispered.

"I promise, Sakura-chan." He whispered and held out his hand. His palm formed a thumbs up and Sakura smiled tragically, and returned the gesture. Something stirred inside Sakura, maybe it was the moment, or the gravity of this symbolic response, she stepped forward.

Her lips met his in a split second and Naruto was still. Then, he stepped back. He grabbed her by her shoulders, dipped down and stepped gradually back. Sakura stared at him with her wide green eyes, not expecting this rejection. She winced painfully inside and knew that had not been the appropriate thing to do. She could have just effed everything up.

"Sakura-chan, not yet. Not yet." Naruto shook his head, a small sad smiled tugging at the corner of his lips, and stepped out of the room.

Sakura stayed still in the spot he left her in, she could feel the ghost of her hands on her shoulders. She closed her eyes and pretended for once, her life wasn't a constant blur of gray, and that kiss had been natural, regressing back to her selfish ways for only a small moment. And Naruto was truly her's, not ensnared by a dead girl.

She opened her eyes and was back to reality, to the sacrifices she made for others happiness, and the sacrifices others made from their own arrogance.

_Line Break_

A big fat diamond ring rest on Tenten's left ring finger. It sparkled ignorantly, almost snobbishly.

Then again, that's how Ino had described it.

Sakura thought it looked delicate and innocent, the promise of one self to another. An engagement ring. The village was clamoring with the news of Tenten and Neji's engagement, the Hyuuga clan needed this dose of good fortune after the loss of Hinata. Tenten was beaming and now wore her hair down, looking actually feminine and not the fierce warrior she actually was. She was thinking of actually retiring from being a ninja and becoming a house wife to Neji, like Hinata, except Hinata had been forced out of it.

Sakura was currently wondering who abducted the real Tenten, the new one now bubbling information to her.

"I want you to be the maid of honor Sakura." Tenten said. Sakura nearly fell from the ledge she was balancing on by the road.

"Um, will I exactly be welcome by Neji's relatives?" Sakura asked. The afternoon air lazily whipped through the street and people strolled about enjoying the spring day.

"Of coarse, and who cares if they don't. They have to option to be escorted out if they have a problem." Tenten gushed, tossing her long hair over her shoulder with her ring finger, the diamond glinting in the sunlight. "I just want you to be beautiful, and beaming for once. There's a reason why your called the Cherry Blossom of Kanoha." Tenten smiled, her chocolate brown hair blowing gently in the air.

"Alright, I will, and I will not be as beautiful as you of coarse on your special day." Sakura smiled. Tenten beamed and hugged her tightly, then skipped away. Sakura shook her head, thinking how bizarre this all was.

This was one wedding she would attend for once.

* * *

short D:

prob only three chapters left, to cover the wedding, and then, overs :(

im running out of witty disclaimers...

and tenten acting all girly? wouldnt you be Mother Teresa if the love of your life proposed to you? lol

taro's note is epic, dont you agree?

leave a review why dont ya


	14. Dawn

i love how everyone commented on how tenten was girly and not one comment on taro's note

oh well, you can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink (or how ever the saying goes...)

enjoy~

i do not own naruto

* * *

**Phobia**

**by lolasbunnyroo**

**Chapter Fourteen  
**

**"Dawn"**

**

* * *

**The town was buzzing with the news of the marriage and all of the prominent ninja clans would be there, Sasuke would represent the Uchiha's alone and Sakura had to giggle at this thought.

The last wedding she had been invited to she ended up leaving, and heard many years later after it had been passed from mouth to ear countless times, that Hinata had been beautiful. Ino was a drunk mess, jealous because Sai was as impassive as ever to her advance's. Sakura found it funny when Ino showed up to her home one day, obliterated on vodka, slurring cuss words at Tenten, and declaring she'd start dating girls instead.

Ino then passed out on Sakura's kitchen floor, and Sakura gladly left her there, after drawing a mustache on Ino's face of coarse.

The days crept into summer, Tenten gave Sakura her dress to wear, it was light pink to match the color scheme, pink and white. Naruto started to return to his old self, the tensions between the Sand and the Rock settled down and the village celebrated a conflict avoided. Sakura was asked out even by a handsome heart throb doctor, but Sakura declined, as it was inappropriate for her to date her own employees.

The week of the wedding arrived, it was planned on a Saturday in the afternoon and Sakura remembered when she had been a silly young girl, dreaming of her wedding day. She found it cynical now for adults to fill girls minds with such illusions, instead of telling them of one single day where the world would pay attention to them, tell them of days studying under a dogwood tree and becoming successful in your own right . Tell them also of days where they would have to commit themselves to their husbands and the marriage and vise versa, or risk it imploding.

Around all this bustling and happiness, Sakura felt inconceivably alone. There was no one in the world who wanted to kiss her and hold her, to stroke her hair and love her. She smiled, staring up at the expanse of a blue sky, maybe it was better this way.

Alot had happened in the one year, she doubted if she could ever love again like she once did, because you had to be selfish to love, and Sakura had not an ounce of that left in her bones.

_Line Break_

Moegi easily dodged a flying kunai and uppercut a dummy. It's head snapped and flopped to the ground.

"Impressive Moegi, keep it up." Sakura said. It was an early summer day and the entire town seemed impatient for summer to really come. Tenten's wedding was the next day, the first day of June.

"Thanks Sakura-sama, do you think I'm a chuunin yet?" She asked eagerly. Sakura pondered this over. She had physical combat under her belt now, but still struggled with chakra control.

"Not yet, but almost there, by the start of next winter you should be." Sakura said. Moegi's face fell, she was impatient and Sakura could understand why. Everyone else in her age group was a chuunin now, and it was hard playing catch up, Sakura knew all to well. Moegi departed for home to rest and study, and Sakura started to ponder what to teach Ino next.

It had been a year now since she returned. She was 26 now, and her mother was harping on her for grand kids. Sakura promised herself if she ever had a girl she'd never pressure her to get married, it got annoying for your mother to obsess over when a baby was going to pop out of you.

"Sakura! Are you going to Tentens bachelorette party?" Temari called down the street. Shikamaru next to her staring off into space.

"Nah, just going to take it in early today." Sakura called back. Temari nodded and waved goodbye. She was used to these long lonely nights, she'd take a cold shower and lay in her bed for hours staring at the ceiling, letting go of everything and keeping her mind still, sort of stuck in limbo.

Then she'd finally drift off to sleep and dream of only the dark. It was funny how people could see darkness, but never the light, how you have to shut your eyes if you gaze into it for to long or otherwise be blinded. And how night follows day instantly and overwhelmingly, that no matter how many starts are up there in the sky, it could not light up the dark.

**N**aruto declined Neji's bachelor party, it was just a formal dinner at the Hyuuga's.

He spent the night with his son and laughed as Little-Naruto screamed and laughed hysterically from just banging his teddy bear against the wall. He remembered his wedding day, it was six years ago now, but it would stay in his mind forever.

_He was happy, but somber, he had a cold feeling in his stomach and couldn't walk, Choji and Sai had to walk him to the alter, Tsunade staring at Naruto with her brown eyes fiercely._

_"Naruto, there is something I have to tell you." She whispered fiercely._

_"Not now Tsunade-sama, the wedding is about to start." Naruto said. The church was full of his friends from all over and outside the village was waiting for the happy couple to come running out with wide grins._

_"Naruto, are you sure you want to marry her? You can still-"_

_"Of coarse I want to marry Hinata-chan!" Naruto said, he knew then it was a lie, but silenced his doubts._

_"Naruto, please, your being to proud, to selfless..." Tsunade pleaded, the memory of Sakura still hurt eyes, still filled with so much pain, was crushing Tsunade._

_"Ready to start?" The priest asked impatiently._

_"Yes, Tsunade, take your seat." Naruto motioned. Tusnade nodded slowly and sat down, Sasuke took his place next to Naruto as the best man, his face stony and the bridesmaids waltzed down the aisle, all Hyuuga women. Hinata emerged in a cloud of white, her purple hair done up elegantly, her face hidden by layers of white lace. Her dress was simple and blinding white with wide sleeves, she looked like an angel. Beautiful, Naruto thought._

_"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the joining of these two souls in holy matrimony..."The priest started. Hinata's mom started wiping her face furiously with a silk handkerchief, catching tears. Hinata gazed at Naruto, her pearl white eyes clouded by the veil._

_"If there are any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace." The priest stated. Heads turned to the door, expecting a certain pink haired siren to burst in and object, swooping in and professing her never ending love for Naruto who would agree and the two would run off together._

_The doors stayed shut, the hall silent. Tsunade had a strong urge to object, knowing Naruto was making a grave mistake, the one he should be marrying was long gone. _

_"I do." Rang through the hall officially and the statements where sealed with a kiss. They ran out of the hall with wide smiles, the crowd cheering and tossing rice about, climbing into a white carriage off to the reception. _

_There, Naruto asked where Sakura was to Sasuke, Hinata turning around the ballroom with her dad. Tusnade leaned over and told him she was sick, Sasuke narrowed his coal black eyes but did not speak a word, not wanting to ruin Naruto's false happiness. _

Naruto successfully quieted down his son and sat down in his living room, boxes were packed with Hinata's stuff he had collected. He stared at them and hauled them outside into the trash, breathing in the fresh night air.

"I'm finally rid of you Hinata." Naruto whispered. The wind whispered in the night but he ignored it.

_Line Break_

Sakura woke up late and ran to Tenten's wedding, fearful of Tenten's temper. Tenten was beaming and Sakura suspected someone had given her some drugs, it was freaky.

She changed and Ino did her hair up in a loose bun and Sakura winced at having to wear heals. Sakura was told the wedding was at the same hall Hinata and Naruto were married at. As she walked down the hall to stand at the alter as the music played, she gazed at the stain glass windows. Angels were descending from heaven, their wings outstretched beautifully, a prophet gazing at Sakura wisely. She took her place and looked at the people sitting in the seats. Many of the Hyuuga's were sitting stone faced and they gave Sakura the creeps.

Good thing was that they weren't glaring death at her. She looked over to the other side and Naruto was gazing at her. She smiled and he smiled back. Here comes the bride, and Sakura smiled to herself as she recited the parody version. The wedding seemed very formal, Neji stiff and gruff, Tenten prim and proper.

The priest announced them man and wife and Neji took Tenten, dipping her down and giving her a deep kiss. The crowd whooped and hollered, and even Sakura laughed.

"YOUTH! SO BEAUTIFUL!" Gai and Lee wept, and Sakura was irked to notice they were both wearing matching green tux's. The reception was over at the Hyuuga's and Sakura was going to dash home and change into something without heels and a long skirt for her to trip over.

Wedding bells rung loudly as she changed quickly and she stopped dead in her tracks as she gazed out of her window. The image stuck in her mind and she had a sensation of deja vu.

She jumped down to the street and started searching frantically, kicking about the dirt and a few people shot her scared looks. Something glinted and she dove down, wiping away dust and she yanked at a small silver chain.

The Haruno circle glinted up at her, it was caked in dirt and dust, but otherwise okay. It must have been stamped into the dirt by pedestrian footsteps. She quickly placed it in her bedside stand and dashed back to the reception.

"Sakura-chayannn!" Ino was already drunk, Sakura had missed the first dance between Tenten and her dad and the cake cutting, and Choji was dancing oddly on the dance floor, surrounded by a crowd of people.

"Ino? Are you already drunk?" Sakura asked.

"Nooo." Ino said and took a large gulp of vodka straight out of the bottle. "Nayruto is lookin for you, are you two gonna bang?" Ino asked and Sakura placed Ino in the care of Sai and congratulated Tenten again, and received a bag of goodies.

"Sakura!" A voice called. Sakura looked around and saw Naruto, he was smiling somberly and walked over to her.

"Want to dance?" He asked.

"Sure." Sakura smiled. The music slowed down to a couples dance and the dance floor became crowded. Sakura looked over and noticed Kiba dancing with a broom and laughed.

"You look beautiful Sakura-chan." Naruto whispered. Sakura turned to him and looked into the eyes of the man she loved, the ghost of butterflies tickling at her stomach.

"Thanks, your handsome yourself. Did ya see that girl over there checking you out?" Sakura giggled nervously.

"Oh, not really." He shrugged. Sakura was surprised at how well Naruto could dance, he probably had to learn when he got married. Sakura's heart sank as she remembered that day. The music changed and a fast song same on, all of the boys bounding onto the dance floor to flail around violently. Naruto was sucked into the bunch and Sakura slipped away. She found a balcony and looked out across the village, and she knew then where the deja vu came from.

The wedding bells were still ringing and Sakura closed her eyes. Her feet carrying her forward steadily through the Konoha forest, far away from her home. Six years ago.

"Sakura-! Oh, there you are." Naruto appeared, smiling widely. "You missed it! Neji started dancing and he was actually really good, probably from all the twirling around he does when he fights!" Naruto laughed and Sakura laughed along too, bummed out she had missed that sight.

"Naruto, I love you." Sakura said to Naruto, then grimaced, a half smile forming on his lips sadly.

"I know. I love you too." He said Sakura felt a great distance between the two, but at the same, a small one, as if Hinata was standing in between the two with her hands held out to prevent Sakura from going to him. He stepped forward and pecked her on the lips quickly. "I'll always love you." He whispered and held her hand, stroking it softly with his thumb. Sakura stared at their entwined hands and pulled her hand away.

"Get back to the party, I'll be back in a little bit." Sakura said. Naruto nodded and disappeared inside. She turned and looked out across the village. She had matured alot in one year, had gone through emotional hell and lived to tell the tale. Her soul was pure now, as pure as she could get.

Sakura smiled and closed her eyes, she was reminded then of a day long ago.

Sakura remembered the day she heard wedding bells.

* * *

**The End**

**

* * *

**...so?

i decided to leave sakura and naruto together up in the air, for the reader to decide the end :)

i personally was going to have them not get together since they have matured so far away from one another, but i

knew that would anger alot of readers

please leave a review :)

i have more stories planned, so stay tuned :D


End file.
